TNAG-2950-FCO40-4227-Hong-Kong-visa-free-travel-for-British-Nationals-(Overseas)--1993 — Page 42

Miss Bliss please vetum with

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14 JU 1993

Mrs Barnes Jones

Hong Kong Department

EC COMMON VISA LIST: HONG KONG.

1.

((28)

Please refer to your minute of 14 June. Three impending developments are likely to affect the question of visa regimes on Hong Kong. These are:

a) THE MAASTRICHT TREATY. Under Article 100c of the Treaty competence for establishing which countries should appear on the EC Common Visa List will pass to the Commission. This transfer of power will become effective with final ratification of the Treaty by all member states. You will be aware of our own position, and that the Parliamentary process is expected to be completed before the summer recess. German and Danish ratifications are expected in the autumn. If this timetable is kept, responsibility for the list will pass to the Commission before the end of this year. We have no control over that.

The tendency of most EC partners, led by the French, is to have wide ranging visa regimes, rather than our own more selective policy of imposiny visa regimes only where we believe it necessary and/or desirable for security and/or immigration reasons. Within the EC at the moment only Denmark, France and (more recently) Spain require visas for Hong Kong. This is to Hong Kong's advantage. But this relatively liberal attitude within Europe probably stems from the lack of understanding over quite what BDTCS/BNOS are, and in particular a presumption that they enjoy returnability to the UK. When partners wake up to the fact that this is not the case, we can expect individual countries to raise visa requirements on the Territory.

So far we have been unable to ascertain what the Commission's intentions are over the common visa list, which currently comprises 73 countries (we have 10 others for national reasons) and they have kept their cards close to their chest. Recent reports suggest that they are just now beginning to concentrate on the issue and we can expect some inclination/statement before the end of this year. But their attitudes are likely to be influenced by general thinking within the Community, and a more maximalist regime seems probable. Initially any expansion of the common visa list will need to be passed by unanimous voting, and we shall be able to block any extensions to the list if necessary. But we shall lose the power of veto on 1 January 1996, at which time decisions will be based on Qualified Majority Voting; we shall be bound by those decisions.