articles
at
sea except
in
authorisation.
accordance
with a formal
In order to bring Hong Kong law on the subject up to date, the bill will be modelled on Part II of the UK Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, which replaced the Dumping at Sea Act 1974 for the United Kingdom. However, the overall effect of the legislation will be essentially the same as that now achieved by the Act as applied to Hong Kong.
1.
The legislation will not confer on an authority in
Hong Kong any powers formerly held by an authority in the United
Kingdom. In this connection however there are two matters the British side would like to mention, viz.
(a) the Act as applied to Hong Kong gives the Minister (of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) and the Secretary of State acting jointly the
jointly the power to declare which are
Convention States. It is intended that the localising
Bill in line with the provisions of the Food and
Environment Protection Act 1985 mentioned in para. 6
above, will simply define a Convention State as one
which is a party to the Convention, leaving the courts to receive appropriate evidence as to that fact;
(b)
under the Act as applied to Hong Kong the Governor has designated the Director of Environmental Protection to
perform certain functions, including the issue of
licences. It is intended that the localising Bill
will confer those functions directly on the Director
of Environmental Protection although he would, of
course, be subject to directions from the Governor in
appropriate cases.
CONFIDENTIAL