TNAG-0298-FCO40-334-Entitlement-of-Hong-Kong-to-generalized-tariffs-preferences--1971 — Page 78

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London S.W.1

MTU 15/1

PGA Wakefield Esq British Embassy

Tokyo

Dear Peter,

GENERALISED PREFERENCES

RECEIVED IN

REGISTRY RS.43

11 FEB 1971

67

MTU:

15H...

يديع علي

REF.

10 February 1971

27

1. In response to your letter 6/1 of 29 January and your No2telegram No 73, I now enclose an Aide Memoire on the inclu-

sion of our dependent territories etc. in the Japane se scheme of generalised preferences, to be handed over at : your discretion. Please feel free to alter the presenta- tion if you think fit. The exercise has taken longer than we hoped because of the difficulty of gathering documentary evidence likely to meet the Japanese requirements.

2.

The documentation is not,' in the final event, fully satisfactory, and in the case of the UK legislation listed below, has only the negative merit of showing that dependen- cies are not included therein. We have therefore separated the dependent territories from the countries for which HMG claimed beneficiary status in UNCTAD because of our respon- sibility for their external relations or the conduct of them. These should not be caught by the Japanese objection in principle to dependencies.

3. The autonomy of Brunei and the Associated States for internal affairs, including the crucial fields of Customs, finance and trade, is adequately demonstrated by the Brunei Agreements of 1959 and the West Indies Act of 1967, copies of which are enclosed. I have not included documentation on Qatar, Bahrain and the Trucial States, as I am told that the web of treaties concerned is numerous, complex, and not necessarily helpful to our case. We must hope that emphasis on their sovereign status will suffice.

4.

In the nature of things, however, we cannot hope to show that the dependent territories enjoy de jure autonomy for internal affairs, since ultimate authority is vested in in the secretary of State. We therefore attempt to show two things:-

/(a)

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MR. Burns I see o.. pa if 2012