08-JUL-1993
11:07
B4 IND LIVERPOOL
riefing for Mi Gotland
HICD
348/1
то
O JUL 1993
From
10 JUL
DRAFT
44 051 236 3386
P.01
May Barnes Jones B. Hebbiewhite- Home office
Programme for registration of British Dependent Territory
citizens as British Nationals (Overseas)
Background
1.
A draft Order in Council which would make provision for a phased scheme for registering BDTCs as BN (0)s was laid
before Parliament on 10 June. The Order needs to be
approved by both Houses of Parliament under the affirmative
resolution procedure. There could be as many as three million registrations to be completed and if large numbers left their applications very late the task would be unmanageable for Hong Kong. In accordance with the terms of the UK Memorandum annexed to the Sino-British Joint Declaration every registration has to be completed and a passport issued by 30 June 1997. Hong Kong take the view that the only way to ensure a smooth changeover is to set cut-off dates for applications (by age groups).
LegCo position
2. LegCo originally objected to the Order in Council on the
grounds that:
(a)
administrative problem should not be solved by
legal means;
(b) the phased programme would remove the right of BDTCS to be registered as BN(0)s at any time before 1 July
1997;
(c) the programme is arbitrary and unfair since it would give more time for some BDTCs to exercise their right to be registered as BN (O)s and less to others;
18.3/CC
197