TNAG-1382-FCO40-1830-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-citizenship-1985 — Page 114

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CODE 18-77

AWO Ltd. 7/84

5.

minute

HKK 04014

2 MAN LE

Mr Galsworthy, Hong Kong Department

Galswo

Reference...

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Caneel of

HONG KONG (BRITISH NATIONALITY) ORDER 1985

1.

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22/3 mill attacher

I enclose a revised draft of the first five Articles of the proposed Order. The draft has been prepared after consultation with Mr Burrows and Mr Hill of Legal Advisers, and the comments which I am now making on the draft Order are the result of a dis- cussion we have had on the matter.

2.

Title and Article 1

We have made a minor change to Mr Hill's original draft by altering the position of the brackets in the title and including them in Article 1.

3.

Article 2 and 3

These Articles have not been amended, other than by the amend- ment of the relevant date in Article 2(2) to read '1st July 1997'.

4.

The purpose of Article 3 (and, in this context, of Article 2) is to give effect in domestic law to the obligations assumed by HMG under the terms of that part of the United Kingdom Memorandum which states that:-

'All persons who on 30 June 1997 are, by virtue of a

connection with Hong Kong, British Dependent Territories citizens (BDTCs) under the law in force in the United Kingdom will cease to be BDTCs with effect from 1 July 1997

...

1

We would construe that part of the Memorandum as meaning that, if a person, when setting out his claim to be a BDTC under the British Nationality Act 1981, has to include, as a necessary element in that claim, any connection with Hong Kong, then that person must on 1 July 1997 be deprived of his BDTC status. On the other hand, if a person has a connection with Hong Kong, but is nevertheless able to put forward a good claim to BDTC status without mentioning that connection with Hong Kong, then the terms of the Memorandum do not require that that person be deprived of his BDTC status. A person in the first category would not be a BDTC but for his connection with Hong Kong. A person in the second category would however still be a BDTC without his connection with Hong Kong.

6. We believe that the revised draft Order gives effect to HMG's commitments under the Memorandum as follows: –

(i)

-

Article 2(1) represents an attempt to set out all the circumstances in which, under British Nationality legislation, a person may have a connection with Hong Kong which may be an element in his claim to BDTC status. We hope that this is a complete list of all the circumstances which may be relevant for this purpose, but we would emphasise that the Home

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