TNAG-1405-FCO40-1880-Future-of-Hong-Kong-passports-and-visas-1985 — Page 87

CONFIDENTIAL

67

1

GVV HK/349/1

A J T Lovelock Esq

British Embassy COPENHAGEN

Dear

Tony,

та

mus East

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

non or 16.

пой

10

Mr-leeke to see

elr

HONG KONG PASSPORT HOLDERS:

1.

London SW1A 2AH

5 June 1985

НКК ото/г

RECI

INC.

040/28

12 JUN 1985

1 PA

DANISH VISA REQUIREMENTS

.Y

pp

Apal

I attach a copy of my reply (and enclosure) to Richard Margolis' letter of 23 April

2. As you will see the terms of your approach to the Danes will be wider than envisaged in 1983. Also instead of being the possible forerunner to a renegotiated Visa Abolition Agreement (VAA) (which we cannot offer for the foreseeable future) the approach has to be on the basis of our interpretation of the existing VAA concluded in 1947 which we hope that you can induce the Danes to accept through informal discussion. We would not wish you to become involved in formal exchanges of Notes at this stage; that would be appropriate only as a means of conveying acceptance of our position which is that we consider that the term 'British Subjects'' employed in the 1947 Agreement should be interpreted to cover British Citizens, British Dependent Territory Citizens, British Overseas Citizens and British Subjects under Part IV of the British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA).

It was pointed out to the Danish Embassy in London (and indeed to all diplomatic missions) in our Note dated 11 October 1982 (copy enclosed) which covered a memorandum describing the provisions of the 1981 BNA (similar to that enclosed with Circular 0 209/82) that we intended, with effect from 1 January 1983, to interpret existing international agreements or arrangements mentioning nationality nomenclature in the light of the relevant provisions of the 1981 BNA and presumed that other parties would do so. There is no record that the Danes signified to the contrary and it is therefore with disappointment that we note that apparently early in 1983 they chose to impose a visa requirement on certain British nationals who we believe should benefit from the terms of the existing VAA.

3.

We assume that this argument, on its own, is unlikely to cause the Danes to break ranks with the other Nordics. You should therefore make the following points:-

CONFIDENTIAL

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