Hong Kong Regulations

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES) (WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION) ORDER - SECT 3

Provisions of 1947 Convention have force of law in Hong Kong

(1) It is declared that the provisions of the 1947 Convention as specified in
the Schedule shall have the force of law in Hong Kong and shall for that
purpose be construed in accordance with the other provisions of this section.

(2) In applying those provisions of the 1947 Convention-

   (a)  a reference to any specialized agency, however expressed, shall be
        construed as a reference to the WTO, and, without limiting the
generality of the foregoing, the reference to "meetings convened by a
specialized agency" in section 1(vi) of the 1947 Convention shall be construed
accordingly;

   (b)  a reference to any member, however expressed and whether with or
        without reference to any specialized agency (with the exception of
        section 13(f) of the 1947 Convention), shall be construed as a
        reference to a WTO member, and, without limiting the generality of the
        foregoing,
the reference to "representatives of members" in section 1(v) of the 1947
Convention shall be construed accordingly;

   (c)  (i) the reference to "will not be sold in the country into which they
        were imported except under conditions agreed to with the Government of
        that country" in section 9(b) of the 1947 Convention shall be
        construed as a reference to "will not be sold in the Hong Kong Special
        Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China except under
        conditions agreed to with the Government of the Hong Kong Special
        Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China";

        (ii)   the reference to "Have the right to import free of duty their
               furniture and effects at the time of first taking up their post
               in the country in question" in section 19(f) of the 1947
               Convention shall be construed as a reference to "Have the right
               to import free of duty their furniture and effects at the time
               of first taking up their post in the Hong Kong Special
               Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China";

   (d)  the reference to "the territory of each State party to this Convention
        in respect of that agency" in section 11 of the 1947 Convention shall
        be construed as a reference to the area of the Hong Kong Special
        Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China;

        (e)	the reference to "the Government of such State" in section 11 
of the 1947 Convention shall be construed as a reference to the Central
People's Government of the People's Republic of China;

   (f)  without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), the reference to
        "Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the adoption
        of appropriate security precautions to be determined by agreement
        between a State party to this Convention and a specialized agency" in
        section 12 of the 1947 Convention shall be construed as a reference to
        "Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the adoption
        of appropriate security precautions to be determined by agreement
        between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's
        Republic of China and the WTO";

   (g)  notwithstanding the generality of paragraph (b), the reference
to "present in a member State" in section 15 of the 1947 Convention shall be
construed as a reference to "present in the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region of the People's Republic of China";

   (h)  section 17 of the 1947 Convention shall be construed as if it read as
        follows: "The provisions of sections 13(a), (b), (c) and (f), 14 and
        15 are not applicable in relation to the authorities of the Hong Kong
        Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China in the
        case where the person concerned is a permanent resident of the Hong
        Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
        or is or has been a representative of the Hong Kong Special
        Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.";

   (i)  the reference to "sections 19 ..." in section 21 of the 1947
        Convention shall be construed as a reference to "section 19(a), (b)
        and

   (f)  ".

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, a reference to any functions or duties of the
representatives of WTO members in sections 13 and 14 of the 1947 Convention
means the functions or duties, as the case may be, of such representatives as
referred to in those sections, which are construed in accordance with
subsection (2), relating to the meetings convened by the WTO.