TNAG-0358-FCO40-394-Registration-of-merchant-shipping-in-Hong-Kong-1972 — Page 152

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Mr Newman, Marine and Transport Dept.

1. Thank you for your helpful background minuse. Before considering the matter further I think we ought to find out the extent to which the 1931 Agreement is in force at the present time. Article 24 does allow for Commonwealth Governments to withdraw from the Agreement in whole or in part. In order to determine the extent of our obligat- ions under the Agreement we need to know whether any, and if so how many Governments have exercised their rights under Article 24. In addition, we need to know how the Agreement has been applied in practice over the past 40 years or so. If Governments have been derogating from its provisions during this time so that the common rules envisaged by the Agreement no longer pertain in practice, this too would be relevant in considering the extent to which we were bound by its provisions.

2. Subject to the above, I do not consider the 1931 Agreement of itself precludes the establishment of an independent shipping register in Hong Kong or in any other UK dependent territory. What it does require, if such a register is established, is that it should conform to the common standards set out in the Agreement. The present proposals are at present perhaps too vague to judge

whether this would веро. So far as qualifications for

ships officers is concerned, there is nothing in Part VI of the Agreement which specifically prohibits the granting of certificates to aliens. Article 16 requires the standards of qualification to be no lower than those "at present established" and to be "so far as possible be equal and alike" throughout the Commonwealth. It is possible to argue that this Article is not intended to deal with

ах все the question of the nationality of ships officers but

with rather technical standards as to competency. But even if the Article includes qualifications as to nationality

in the extent our obligation depends to which uniform practices are applied throughout the rest of the Commonwealth and on this we need to know what other Commonwealth countries, especially independent countries, do in this respect. In addition the obligation is not an absolute one, we are

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