Nationality and Treaty Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Clive House Petty France London SW1H 9HD
Telephone 01-270 4090
David Gladwell Esq
Lord Chancellor's Department
Your reference
HKB
01219
9
Our reference GNL 377/373/1
Date
11 August 1989
to
RECIPROCAL ENFORCEMENT OF JUDGMENTS- HONG KONG
1.
I understand that when Iain MacLeod, our Legal Adviser, discussed this question with you a few weeks ago, you agreed with the view we have taken, ie that the bilateral conventions with France, Belgium, the FRG, the Netherlands and Italy will remain in place for the purposes of reciprocal enforcement with Hong Kong, despite the provisions of Article 55 of the Brussels Convention of 1968. I under- stand that Iain wrote to you on 6 July seeking confirmation of your views on this point.
2. It would seem that, while we may have different reasons for coming to this conclusion, LCD and FCO are agreed that reciprocal enforcement arrangements do still exist between Hong Kong and the five States mentioned in my first paragraph. It seems clear that it is was never our intention deliberately to exclude the dependent territories from reciprocal enforcement of judgment arrangements with the European States which are parties to the 1968 Convention.
3. This leads us on to the question of what will happen after 1997. Although it may seem rather early in the day to start considering the arrangements we should like to have in place when Hong Kong is no longer a colony, any such arrangements would need to be agreed with the Chinese, and negotiations would almost certainly take some time. I should be grateful to know whether LCD have given any thought to the question, and, if not, how you think this matter should best be advanced.
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