TNAG-1406-FCO40-1881-Future-of-Hong-Kong-passports-and-visas-1985 — Page 53

9.

[Para 9 as in original draft]

DSR 11C

If any profit from the passports is to be credited to

HMG, equally any loss which might arise would have to be

borne by HMG and not by the Hong Kong Government and this

would have implications for the setting of the UK passport

fee, which is a Homg Office responsibility. At Treasury

insistence; this fee is set at a level which will produce

sufficient revenue to offset the administrative and other cost

of the passport-issuing operation in the UK and at posts

abroad, as well as the costs of providing non-feebearing

consular services abroad to British nationals). If the Hong

Kong Aperation is to be taken into the equation it will be

necessary for Hong Kong to provide detailed estimates of their

expected administrative charges. One complicating factor is

that it is at present not known how many of the BDTCs

eligible to apply for BN(O) will chose to do so. Of those

who do, and obtaining a passport is to be an integral part

of the acquisition of the new status, many are unlikely to

travel abroad, so it is most improbable that there would be

a corresponding rise in the call on our consular protection

services.

H