§ Mr. John MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made in agreeing the court of final appeal for Hong 155W Kong; and whether its composition will comply fully with the provisions of the joint declaration and the basic law as regards the court's own flexibility to invite as many or as few judges for other common law jurisdictions to sit in each case as required.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydAgreement was reached with the Chinese side on the composition of the court of final appeal at the 20th meeting of the Sino-British joint liaison group on 24 to 26 September 1991. We have already made clear that the next task will be to draw up legislation in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Legislative Council will be consulted on the draft bill in due course. We consider that the agreement reached on the joint liaison group is consistent with the provisions of the joint declaration and basic law.