Seychelles Act 1976

Fully responsible status of Seychelles

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• (1) On and after 29th June 1976 (in this Act referred to as “the appointed day”) Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom shall have no responsibility for the Government of Seychelles.

• (2) No Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on or after the appointed day shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to Seychelles as part of its law.

Power to provide for constitution of Seychelles as Republic

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Her Majesty may by Order in Council (to be laid before Parliament after being made) make provision for the constitution of Seychelles as a Republic on the appointed day.

Consequential modifications of British Nationality Acts

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• (1) On and after the appointed day the British Nationality Acts 1948 to 1965 shall have effect as if in section 1(3) of the British Nationality Act 1948 (Commonwealth countries having separate citizenship) there were added at the end the words " and Seychelles " .

• (2) Except as provided by section 4 of this Act, any person who immediately before the appointed day is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies shall on that day cease to be such a citizen if he becomes on that day a citizen of Seychelles.

• (3) Section 6(2) of the British Nationality Act 1948 (registration as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies of women who have been married to such citizens) shall not apply to a woman by virtue of her marriage to a person who on the appointed day ceases to be such a citizen under subsection (2) of this section or who would have done so if living on the appointed day.

• (4) In accordance with section 3(3) of the West Indies Act 1967, it is hereby declared that this and the next following section extend to all associated states.

Retention of citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies by certain citizens of Seychelles

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• (1) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, a person shall not cease to be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under section 3(2) of this Act if he, his father or his father's father—

• (a) was born in the United Kingdom or in a colony or an associated state; or

• (b) is or was a person naturalised in the United Kingdom and Colonies; or

• (c) was registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies; or

• (d) became a British subject by reason of the annexation of any territory included in a colony.

• (2) The references to a colony in subsection (1) of this section shall be construed as not including any territory which, on the appointed day, is not a colony for the purposes of the British Nationality Act 1948 as that Act has effect on that day, and accordingly do not include Seychelles.

• (3) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, the reference in subsection (1)(b) of this section to a person naturalised in the United Kingdom and Colonies shall include a person who would, if living immediately before the commencement of the British Nationality Act 1948, have become a person naturalised in the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of section 32(6) of that Act (persons given local naturalisation in a colony or protectorate before the commencement of that Act).

• (4) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to a person by virtue of any certificate of naturalisation granted or registration effected by the Governor or Government of a territory which by virtue of subsection (2) of this section is excluded from the references to a colony in subsection (1) of this section or which on the appointed day is not a protectorate or protected state for the purposes of the British Nationality Act 1948 as that Act has effect on that appointed day.

• (5) A woman who is the wife of a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies shall not cease to be such a citizen under section 3(2) of this Act unless her husband does so.

• (6) Part III of the British Nationality Act 1948 (supplemental provisions) as in force at the passing of this Act shall have effect for the purposes of this section as if this section were included in that Act.

Operation of existing law

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• (1) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, all law to which this section applies, whether being a rule of law or a provision of an Act of Parliament or of any other enactment or instrument whatsoever, which is in force on the appointed day, or, having been passed or made before that day, comes or has come into force thereafter, shall, unless and until provision to the contrary is made by Parliament or some other authority having power in that behalf, have the same operation in relation to Seychelles, and persons and things belonging to or connected with Seychelles, as it would have had apart from this subsection if there had been no change in the status of Seychelles.

• (2) This section applies to law of, or any part of, the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and, in relation only to any enactment of the Parliament of the United Kingdom or any Order in Council made by virtue of any such enactment whereby any such enactment applies in relation to Seychelles, to law of any other country or territory to which that enactment or Order extends.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pending appeals to Her Majesty in Council

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Consequential modifications of other enactments

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• (1) On and after the appointed day the provisions specified in the Schedule to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments specified respectively in that Schedule.

• (2) Subsection (1) of this section, and the Schedule to this Act, shall not extend to Seychelles as part of its law.

Interpretation

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• (1) In this Act, and in any amendment made by this Act in any other enactment, “Seychelles” means the territories which immediately before the appointed day constitute the Colony of Seychelles.

• (2) References in this Act to any enactment are references to that enactment as emended or extended by or under another enactment.

Short title

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This Act may be cited as the Seychelles Act 1976.

SCHEDULE

Diplomatic immunities

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The Services

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Visiting forces

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In the Visiting Forces (British Commonwealth) Act 1933 section 4 (attachment and mutual powers of command) shall apply in relation to forces raised in Seychelles as it applies to forces raised in Dominions within the meaning of the Statute of Westminster 1931.

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In the Visiting Forces Act 1952, in section 1(1)(a) (countries to which the Act applies) at the end there shall be added the words “Seychelles or”.

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Until express provision with respect to Seychelles is made by an Order in Council under section 8 of that Act (application to visiting forces of law relating to home forces), any such Order for the time being in force shall be deemed to apply to visiting forces of Seychelles.

Ships

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7

In the Whaling Industry (Regulation) Act 1934 the expression “British ship to which this Act applies” shall not include a British ship registered in Seychelles.

Commonwealth Institute

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Power to provide for constitution of Seychelles as Republic.

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Editorial notes

[^c720900]: Ss. 3, 4, 5(3) repealed by British Nationality Act 1981 (c. 61, SIF 87), Sch. 9

[^c720901]: Ss. 3, 4, 5(3) repealed by British Nationality Act 1981 (c. 61, SIF 87), Sch. 9

[^c720902]: S. 6 repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986 (c. 12), s. 1(1), Sch. 1 Pt. I

[^c720903]: Sch. para. 1 repealed by International Organisations Act 1981 (c. 9, SIF 68:1), Sch.

[^c720905]: 1933 c. 6.

[^c720906]: 1931 c. 4 (22 & 23 Geo. 5).

[^c720907]: The text of Sch. paras. 2, 4, 6, 8 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.

[^c720908]: “that Act” means Visiting Forces Act 1952 (c. 67)

[^c720910]: Sch. para. 6 repealed (1.1.1996) by 1995 c. 21, ss. 314(1), 316(2), Sch. 12 (with ss. 312(1), Sch. 14 para. 1)

[^c720911]: 1934 c. 49.

[^c720913]: Sch. para. 8 repealed (7.1.2003) by 2002 c. 39, ss. 3, 4(2), Sch. 3

[^key-b4b66e5ba0fbd4d5a1d8cb48e88a4b3f]: Sch. para. 2 repealed (28.3.2009 for specified purposes, 31.10.2009 in so far as not already in force) by Armed Forces Act 2006 (c. 52), s. 383(2), Sch. 17; S.I. 2009/812, art. 3(a)(b) (with transitional provisions in S.I. 2009/1059); S.I. 2009/1167, art. 4