TNAG-2333-FCO40-3394-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Hong-Kong-Court-of-Final-Appeal-Hong-Ko-1991 — Page 89

CODE 18-77

CONFIDENTIAL

Reference.....

PR3ABG

20

Ms P A Major

HKD

WH 305

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME 1991/92:

1.

ANTARCTICA

I attach a contribution for a draft letter from the Secretary of State to the Lord_President, as requested in your minute of 30 April.

18

2. In putting forward a bid last year for an Antarctic Environment Protection Bill to be included in the Legislative Programme 1991/92, we considered how much progress would be made by Antarctic Treaty Parties towards a new international agreement relating to the protection of the Antarctic environ- ment, prior to the session. Since then two meetings of the Antarctic Treaty Parties have been held, the second of which ended in Madrid yesterday.

3.

At this second meeting a draft text of a new instrument was accepted as the basis for conclusion of the negotiations in June. We have not studied the text in detail yet, but it represents considerable achievement in bringing together the divergent views, and we believe it provides for a final agree- ment. Primary UK legislation will be needed to bring an Environmental Protocol into force and, for political reasons, we may well wish to ratify the agreement and enact the necessary legislation without delay. I therefore believe the slot should be retained.

Klwolsten lobe A

HKC370/5

K S Wolstenholme (Mrs)

Polar Regions Section

South Atlantic and Antarctic Department

270 2614

WH 329

1 May 1991

CONFIDENTIAL