CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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prominent members of the community. The commission's proposals on commercial arbitration, bills of exchange, community service orders and contribution between wrong- doers have been enacted. Its reports on contempt of court and damages for personal injuries and death are in the course of implementation. The commission's report on laws governing homosexual conduct is under consideration and draft legislation is expected to be considered by the Legislative Council during its next session. The commission is considering aspects of insurance law, hearsay evidence in civil proceedings, the admissi- bility of confession statements, the legal effects of age, breach of confidence actions, unfair contract terms, coroners, and wills and intestate succession.
Foreign Relations
The Role of the British Government and the Political Adviser Because of Hong Kong's status as a dependent territory, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is constitutionally responsible to the British Parliament for the actions of the Hong Kong Government. He and officials of the Foreign and Common- wealth Office, on his behalf, have authority to give directions to the Hong Kong Govern- ment. In practice, however, such formal directions are rarely issued, and the relationship between London and Hong Kong is essentially one of co-operation. For example, one important task routinely undertaken by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is to ensure that Hong Kong's interests and views (which are not always identical with those of the United Kingdom) are properly considered within the British Government machinery, particularly when new policies are being formulated by other Whitehall departments.
Hong Kong's foreign relations are constitutionally the direct responsibility of the British Government. Thus the British Government is internationally responsible for ensuring that the Hong Kong Government fulfils its obligations under the many international conven- tions and agreements which extend to Hong Kong as well as to the United Kingdom. But in the day-to-day conduct of external affairs Hong Kong in practice now enjoys a consider- able degree of autonomy, particularly regarding trade matters.
The Political Adviser is a senior member of the British Diplomatic Service, seconded to the Hong Kong Government to advise on the political aspects of Hong Kong's foreign relations. His office provides the principal channel of communication between the Hong Kong Government and the representatives in Hong Kong of foreign and Commonwealth Governments. During the last two years, much of the work of the Political Adviser's office has been in assisting the Governor in connection with the Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong's future. The Political Adviser's office continues to offer advice, and, in some cases, to co-ordinate action on a great many more routine matters, notably in promoting the wide range of contacts between Hong Kong Government departments and their counterparts in Guangdong Province, particularly in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. Close and effective cross-border co-operation has developed in such diverse areas as opening new border crossing points and transport links, and in coping with environmental pollution and flooding problems, as well as on questions concerning immigration, customs, postal services and telecommunications.
External Commercial Relations
Hong Kong has considerable latitude in the management of its external commercial relations. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the basic aim of which is to liberalise world trade and protect the most-favoured-nation principle, is the cornerstone