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Brooks said this might be a useful fallback if the Chinese agreed.
Mrs Evans asked whether China would allow HK to extradite to us on that basis. Would they not demand a reciprocal arrangement? Ms Rutherford noted that HK extradite very few cases at present (Osman, Saniman). Mrs Evans felt that the idea of amending Section 3 to cover HK should not be put to Ministers until the initial talks with the HK delegation. Ms Rutherford noted that it would not harm the UK were we to have no extradition treaty with HK, since we hardly ever extradite people from there anyway. Miss Brooks said this would not be consistent with our efforts for a smooth transition.
DISCUSSION OF DRAFT TEXT
(Draws on Ms Rutherford's letter of 20 August.)
4. Preamble
Ms Rutherford suggested "arrangements" might be better than "provisions". Miss Brooks concurred and suggested as another alternative "provision" in the singular.
5. Article 1
Mrs Evans said that Section 2 of the 1989 Act allows us to deal with extra-territorial offences. So in domestic law we could have a much wider basis for extradition than the text here allows.
6. Article 2
Mrs Rutherford said that the Home Office was seeking to move away from a "list" basis, and the Extradition act 1989 adopted the "twelve month minimum" criterion. The list sysyem had been found to be full of practical difficulties - it was difficult to avoid leaving legal loopholes. The 1989 Act does allow the "list" system to continue in respect of those old treaties which have not yet been renegotiated or superseded by the European Convention on Extradition, but it could not accommodate the definition proposed for a new arrangement, especially as this treaty would not be signed for at least another four years. To do so would be against Home Office policy. In any case, it seems odd for an offence to have to meet two conditions ie to be "punishable by imprisonment for more than one year" and to be included in the list. However she said this text would probably be acceptable from a legal viewpoint if unavoidable. Miss Brooks said we would not give any leeway on the matter or agree a list with the HK delegation at the coming round of negotiations, citing policy reasons. But given HK's unique position, if this were to be
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