British Embassy
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11 Guang Hua Lu Jian Guo Men Wai
Peking People's Republic of China
Telex 22191 Cable Prodrome Peking Telephone 521961/2/3/4/5
Miss C Y Wong
Office of the Chief Secretary
Government Secretariat
Lower Albert Road
Hong Kong
де Je a
ar
Miss Wong,
Your reference
Our reference
FILE copy
Date
24 April 1989
V
REQUEST FOR SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS
1.
I am enclosing a package of legal documents which you sent under cover of your letter CAB (G) 31/2731/89 of 29 March addressed to Chancery, asking us to pass them to the Chinese. We asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange for service of the Writ, and have had a reply from them of which I enclose a copy (in Chinese) herewith. In brief the MFA say that in the absence of a Mutual Judicial Assistance Agreement between Britain and China, operations of this kind can only be carried out by means of a formal request from one country's court to another through diplomatic channels. The form of presentation of documents should reflect this: the request for service of the Writ should come direct from the Hong Kong court and bear the court's seal (ie a solicitor's letter like that you enclosed does not suffice), and it should be accom- panied by a Chinese translation. The MFA suggest that we should re-present the documents to them in this form, whereupon they will pass them to the appropriate Chinese court for action.
2.
I am sorry about this hiccup which will have caused a regrettable delay in the serving of the present Writ. But we have checked our records and find that when we have forwarded similar requests direct from courts in the UK, they have always been presented in the way that the MFA describe, including the Chinese translation. The Chinese are therefore merely suggesting that Hong Kong courts should follow the same procedure. It is not unhelpful from a general point of view (ia with an eye to the UK/China Judicial Assistance Agreement planned for the future) that the MFA should equate requests from Hong Kong courts with UK ones, and I hope, therefore, you will be able to arrange for the present documents to be resubmitted as the Chinese require.
cc:
S Ying Esq,
GDB Hong Kong
E H Martin Esq,
Deputy Solicitor-General
Attorney-General's Chambers
Hong Kong
Your
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العام
Ahram
Alyson J
Bankes
Bailes
Political Counsellor
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