TNAG-2964-FCO40-4243-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Consular-representation-of-European-Coun-1993 — Page 78

3.

CONFIDENTIAL

Noting your desire for the Office to be established in the near future, I would propose that a possible way to take the matter forward would be for the Office to be set up and for the Hong Kong Government to grant it the privileges and immunities necessary for its effective functioning. The Chinese Government

would need to be informed of the establishment of the Office but consultation as to its position after 30 June 1997 could take place at a later stage.

4.

Under existing Hong Kong laws, the International Organisations and Diplomatic Privileges Ordinance (Cap 190) is the only piece of legislation available for the conferment of privileges and immunities on the EC Office and its staff. This Ordinance is intended to enable the Hong Kong Government to grant privileges and immunities to those

those organizations and persons who need such privileges and immunities in order carry out their functions effectively.

5.

My Government keeps a precedence list of the various offices in Hong Kong, a copy of which was passed to you during our meeting. This list is headed by the Governor of Hong Kong and includes senior Government

Government officials, consular representatives and other official bodies established in the territory. We are willing to consider favourably any proposals the EC may have on where the EC Office should be placed in this list.

6.

Assuming that all the information and documents are in order and that we can reach agreement on the privileges and immunities to be conferred, we estimate that the time needed to complete the procedures for privileges and immunities to be granted to the EC Office under Cap 190 is around six weeks.

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