Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
25 March 1993
Mr JH A van Loon
Hague Conference on Private
International Law
Permanent Bureau
6 Scheveningseweg 2517 KT THE HAGUE
NETHERLANDS
London SWIA 2AH
Telephone: 071-
270 3067
FAX: 071 270 2767
Dear Mr
van Loon,
HAGUE CONVENTION ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO TRUSTS AND
ON THEIR RECOGNITION
I am writing to seek your views on how we might best resolve a problem that we have noticed in the extension of the Hague Convention on the Law of Trusts to our dependent territories.
As you will know, the United Kingdom ratified the Convention on 17 November 1989 and at that time made the reservation permitted by Article 16(2) and the declaration permitted by Article 20. The Convention was subsequently extended separately to Hong Kong, Montserrat and the Bailiwick of Jersey. At the time of extension to the Bailiwick of Jersey, it was stated that the extension was subject to the reservation under Article 16 and the declaration under Article 20 made by the United Kingdom on ratification of the Convention. However, the extensions to Hong Kong and Montserrat were not stated expressly to be subject to the reservation and declaration.
The reason for this difference in treatment appears to have be an administrative oversight. It was certainly the intention that all dependent territories have the Convention extended to them subject to the same reservation and declaration and their legislation has been enacted accordingly.
We should like to make it clear, in case there is ever any doubt, that we do wish the reservation to Article 16 (2) and the declaration under Article 20 to apply to Hong Kong and Montserrat. We would propose therefore to send a note to the depositary stating that, for the avoidance of doubt, the reservation under Article 16(2) and the declaration under Article 20 apply to Hong Kong and Montserrat. We would propose to make this statement at the same time as extending the Convention to two further dependent territories (Turks and Caicos Islands and the Island of Guernsey) which would conclude our series of extensions of the Convention.