TNAG-2396-FCO40-3483-Hong-Kong-Civil-Service-policy-1992 — Page 213

CONFIDENTIAL

2 April 1992

HKA 016/1

CCISTRY

BY FAX

03 APR 1992

RECEIVER

卖

Foreign & Commonwealth

Office

File @

Miss Christina Tsang'

Civil Service Branch

HONG KONG

OFSK OFFICE

Decor Christina,

London SWIA 2AH

Telephone: 071-270 2652

LOCALISATION OF UK LAWS ON CIVIL SERVICE MATTERS

14

1.

2.

Thank you for your letter of 17 February.

I am sorry not to have been able to reply before now but as you know both our and ODA's Legal Advisers have been looking at the papers on this.

3.

I confirm that it will not be necessary to incorporate into Hong Kong pensions legislation sections 38 and 39 of the Superannuation Act 1965. As Mr Waters pointed out in his letter of 19 June 1991 to Mr Stone, these sections preserve British pension rights of British civil servants serving or who have served in Hong Kong.

4. Although FCO telno 1162 of April 1987 implied that there could be provisions other than sections 38 and 39 of the 1965 Act that need to be localised, the ODA's Legal Adviser is not immediately aware of any other relevant provisions.

5. The ODA's Legal Adviser has also commented that the only civil servants in the Hong Kong Government who are presently eligible for benefits under the UK Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) by reason of sections 38 and 39 will no longer be in reckonable service after 1997 because the definition in section 39 will no longer cover Hong Kong. Their continued service in Hong Kong will not count for benefits under the PCSPS as the law stands at the moment.

6. If it were decided that post-1997 service for the Hong Kong SARG should count as reckonable service, section 39 wil have to be amended. But amendment is dependent on a policy decision by HMG. This does not have any effect on the conclusion in paragraph 3 above that sections 38 and 39 need not be localised.

SISABY

CONFIDENTIAL