1Nationality, etc.

(1)In subsection (3) of section one of the British Nationality Act, 1948 (which specifies the countries whose citizens are by virtue of that citizenship British subjects or Commonwealth citizens) the reference to South Africa shall be omitted; and accordingly any person who, immediately before the commencement of this Act, was a British subject by virtue only of his citizenship of the Republic shall cease to be a British subject at the commencement of this Act.

(2)The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect for continuing, for the benefit of citizens of the Republic who make application, or give notice of intention to make application, before the end of the year nineteen hundred and sixty-five, certain provisions of the said Act of 1948 with respect to the acquisition by registration of citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies ; and in relation to an application for registration as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies made before the end of that year by a woman who is a citizen of the Republic, subsection (2) of section six of that Act shall apply as if she were a British subject.

(3)Until the end of the year nineteen hundred and sixty-five, a citizen of the Republic shall not be subject, in respect of any office, place or employment held by him at the commencement of this Act, or any qualification to act in any capacity in which he was acting at the commencement of this Act, to any disability imposed in the case of aliens by or by virtue of any of the following enactments, that is to say—

(a)section three of the Act of Settlement;

(b)sections four to six of the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act, 1919;

(c)section eighty-eight of the Patents Act, 1949, or any rules made for the purposes of that section ; or

(d)any Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, or any regulations in force under any such Act.

(4)For the purposes of subsection (3) of this section a person who at the commencement of this Act was on leave from or otherwise temporarily absent from employment in any capacity mentioned in subsection (1) of section five of the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act, 1919 (master, etc., of British merchant ship) shall be treated as if he were employed in such employment at the commencement of this Act; and where the said subsection (3) applies to any person in respect of any office, place or employment held by him at the commencement of this Act, it shall apply to him also in respect of any office, place or employment to or in which he may be appointed or employed thereafter by way of re-engagement or transfer.

2Other provisions as to existing law.

(1)The enactments mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act shall continue to apply in relation to the Republic as provided by that Schedule.

(2)The provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act (being transitional provisions and savings) shall have effect with respect to the enactments referred to in that Schedule.

(3)The enactments described in the Fourth Schedule to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in the second column of that Schedule ; and the enactments and instruments described in the Fifth Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

(4)Without prejudice to subsection (2) of this section, the provisions of the Interpretation Act, 1889, and any rule of law with respect to the effect of repeals shall apply in relation to any enactment which ceases to apply in relation to the Republic, or persons or things belonging thereto or connected therewith, otherwise than by virtue of the repeals effected by this section, as if it were repealed by this section to the extent that it ceases so to apply.

3Interpretation, etc.

(1)In this Act " the Republic " means the Republic of South Africa ; and references to the Republic, in relation to any time before the thirty-first day of May, nineteen hundred and sixty-one, include references to the Union of South Africa.

(2)Any reference in this Act to an enactment is a reference thereto as amended, and includes a reference thereto as extended or applied, by or under any other enactment; and any such reference to any enactment which extends to the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands or any colony or other territory, includes a reference thereto as it so extends.

(3)For the purposes of section six of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, this Act, so far as it relates to any enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or any enactment which that Parliament has power to amend, shall be deemed to be an Act passed before the appointed day within the meaning of that section.

4Short title and commencement.

(1)This Act may be cited as the South Africa Act, 1962.

(2)This Act shall come into operation on the thirty-first day of May, nineteen hundred and sixty4wo.

SCHEDULES

FIRST SCHEDULETemporary continuance of certain provisions of British Nationality Act, 1948, with respect to Citizenship by Registration

1Subsection (1) of section six of the British Nationality Act, 1948, and subsection (2) of section three of the British Nationality Act, 1958, shall apply in relation to citizens of the Republic as they apply in relation to citizens of countries mentioned in subsection (3) of section one of the said Act of 1948 ; but no person shall by virtue of this paragraph be registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under the said subsection (1) unless either—

(a)he makes application under that subsection before the end of the year nineteen hundred and sixty-five ; or

(b)he gives notice under paragraph 2 below before the end of that year of his intention to make such an application, and makes the application within five years after giving that notice.

2A notice of intention to make such an application shall be given to such person and in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations under section twenty-nine of the said Act of 1948 ; and such a notice may be given only by a citizen of the Republic who, at the time when the notice is given, is—

(a)ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom or in any colony or protectorate residence in which may qualify for registration under the said subsection (1); or

(b)in Crown service under Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom ; or

(c)serving either under an international organisation of which Her Majesty's said Government is a member or in the employment of a society, company or body of persons established in the United Kingdom or in any such colony or protectorate.

3A person who would be entitled or qualified to be registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under subsection (1) of the said section six as extended by this Schedule if he were a citizen of the Republic may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, be so registered notwithstanding that he has ceased to be such a citizen if he was such a citizen immediately before making his application or giving notice under paragraph 2 above.

4In relation to any application for registration made under subsection (6) of section twelve of the said Act of 1948 by a citizen of the Republic, paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section three of the British Nationality Act, 1958 (which prescribes the time within which such applications may be made) shall have effect as if for the words " nineteen hundred and sixty-two " there were substituted the words " nineteen hundred and sixty-five " ; and for the purposes of any such application the references in the said subsection (6) to the United Kingdom and Colonies (other than references to citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies) shall be construed as including references to the protectorates of Bechuanaland and Swaziland.

5No person shall, by virtue of this Schedule, be entitled to be registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies if a deportation order, or a recommendation for the making of a deportation order, is in force in respect of him under any Order in Council made in pursuance of the Aliens Restriction Act, 1914 ; but the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, register as such a citizen any person who would be entitled or qualified to be so registered but for this paragraph.

6In relation to any application for registration made before the end of the year nineteen hundred and sixty-five, the following provisions of the British Nationality Act, 1948, that is to say subsection (2) of section eight, subsection (7) of section twelve and section twenty-six, shall have effect as if—

(a)references to any country mentioned in subsection (3) of section one of that Act included references to the Republic ; and

(b)references to the High Commissioner for Her Majesty's government in the United Kingdom included references to Her Majesty's Ambassador for the United Kingdom to the Republic or the person appointed to act as charge d'affaires during the absence or incapacity of such an Ambassador.

7This Schedule shall be construed as one with the British Nationality Act, 1948.

SECOND SCHEDULEProvisions for continuing operation of certain enactments in relation to Republic

Colonial probates

1The Colonial Probates Act, 1892, shall apply in relation to the Republic as it applies in relation to a British possession; and any Order in Council in force under that Act in relation to the Republic immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in force accordingly.

Maintenance orders

2(1)The Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act, 1920, shall apply in relation to the Republic as it applies in relation to a part of Her Majesty's dominions ; and any Order in Council in force under that Act in relation to the Republic immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in force accordingly.

(2)For the purposes of the application of the said Act in relation to the Republic in accordance with the foregoing sub-paragraph, references in that Act to the governor of a part of Her Majesty's dominions shall, in the case of the Republic, be construed as references to the Minister of Justice.

3In subsection (1) of section one of the Naval Forces (Enforcement of Maintenance Liabilities) Act, 1947 (deductions from pay in respect of liabilities for maintenance, etc.) the reference to an order or decree of any court in Her Majesty's dominions shall be construed as including a reference to an order or decree (whenever made) of any court in the Republic ; and any Order in Council made under section three of the Naval and Marine Pay and Pensions Act, 1865, before the commencement of this Act shall be construed accordingly.

Companies' registers

4(1)Sections one hundred and nineteen to one hundred and twenty-one of the Companies Act, 1948, and sections one hundred and sixteen to one hundred and eighteen of the Companies Act (Northern Ireland), 1960 (" dominion registers ") and section one hundred and twenty-three of the Companies Act, 1948 (branch registers of " dominion" companies kept in Great Britain) shall apply in relation to the Republic as they apply in relation to a part of Her Majesty's dominions.

(2)The references in the foregoing sub-paragraph to provisions of the said Act of 1948 and of the said Act of 1960 shall be construed as including references to any corresponding provisions in force at the commencement of this Act which are contained in any enactment, royal charter or other instrument constituting or regulating any body corporate incorporated in, and having its principal office or a principal place of business in, Great Britain or Northern Ireland.

Sugar

5(1)Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section one of the Sugar Act, 1956 (establishment and principal functions of Sugar Board) shall apply to sugar exported or to be exported from the territories of the Republic as it applies in relation to Commonwealth sugar.

(2)Any profit or loss realised by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in connection with sugar purchased by the Sugar Board, as agents for him, in pursuance of any agreement made before the commencement of this Act between that Minister and the South African Sugar Association shall be paid over to or made good by the Board ; and any payments made to or by the Board by virtue of this provision shall be credited or debited to its revenue account.

Commonwealth preference

6For the purposes of the Import Duties Act, 1958, the Republic shall, subject to the general power of exclusion conferred by subsection (5) of section two of that Act, continue to form part of the Commonwealth preference area; and accordingly in the said section two—

(a)in subsection (4), the words " and the Union of South Africa" shall be omitted, and for the words " and the Republic of Ireland " there shall be substituted the words " the Republic of Ireland and the Republic of South Africa " ; and

(b)in subsection (9), for the words " the Union of South Africa " there shall be substituted the words " the Republic of South Africa ".

THIRD SCHEDULETransitional Provisions and Savings

Fugitive offenders

1Where, in the case of a person accused of having committed an offence within the territory of the Republic, a warrant or provisional warrant for his apprehension has been endorsed or issued outside the Republic under Part I or Part II of the Fugitive Offenders Act, 1881, and has been executed before the commencement of this Act, the provisions of that Act shall apply in relation to the warrant and any proceedings thereon as if the Republic were a part of Her Majesty's dominions:

Provided that no person shall be returned to the Republic by virtue of this paragraph—

(a)if the offence of which he is accused is an offence of a political character or an offence which is not an offence under the law of the country or territory in which the warrant was endorsed or issued as aforesaid ; or

(b)if he proves to the satisfaction of a magistrate, court or authority having jurisdiction under the said Act to order his return or discharge that his return is in fact sought with a view to trying or punishing him for such an offence as aforesaid.

Veterinary surgeons

2(1)In the case of a person registered before the commencement of this Act as a colonial practitioner in the register of veterinary surgeons kept in pursuance of the Veterinary Surgeons Act, 1881, his continued registration as such a practitioner shall not be affected by the fact that the Republic is not part of Her Majesty's dominions.

(2)For the purposes of the registration of any person in the said register of veterinary surgeons after the commencement of this Act, the Republic shall be deemed never to have been a British possession.

(3)During the period beginning with the commencement of this Act and ending with the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and sixty-five, subsection (2) of section thirteen of the said Act of 1881 (which entitles persons satisfying certain conditions to be registered as foreign practitioners in the said register) shall have effect in relation to any British subject who shows that he holds some recognised veterinary diploma granted at any time in the Republic as if the condition relating to the practising of veterinary surgery (which applies only to British subjects) were omitted.

Medical practitioners

3(1)In the case of a person registered before the commencement of this Act as a Commonwealth practitioner under any of the provisions of Part III of the Medical Act, 1956, or of any enactment repealed by that Act, his continued registration as such a practitioner shall not be affected by the fact that the Republic is not a Commonwealth country.

(2)For the purposes of the registration of any person under any of the provisions of the said Part III after the commencement of this Act, the Republic shall be deemed never to have been a Commonwealth country.

Dentists

4(1)In the case of a person registered before the commencement of this Act in the Commonwealth list contained in the dentists register kept under the Dentists Act, 1957, his continued registration in that list shall not be affected by the fact that the Republic is not a country within the Commonwealth.

(2)For the purposes of the registration of any person in the said dentists register after the commencement of this Act, the Republic shall be deemed never to have been a country within the Commonwealth.

Solicitors

5(1)Where any person being an attorney of the Supreme Court of South Africa or of any local division thereof (within the meaning of the Order of 1919)—

(a)has before the commencement of this Act complied with the requirements of clause (2) of that Order as to the leaving of documents ; or

(b)is at the commencement of this Act serving bona fide as a clerk to a solicitor in England in pursuance of subsection (1) of section four of the Solicitors Act, 1957,

the provisions of the said subsection (1) or of section one of the Colonial Solicitors Act, 1900 (as the case may require) and of the said Order shall continue to apply to him as if the Republic were a part of Her Majesty's dominions.

(2)In this paragraph " the Order of 1919 " means the Order in Council made under the Colonial Solicitors Act, 1900, and dated the 14th day of January, 1919 (S.R. & O. 1919 No. 67) as amended (in its application to England) by Orders in Council dated the 16th day of April, 1923 (S.R. & O. 1923 No. 480) and the 6th day of May, 1938 (S.R. & O. 1938 No. 495); and the power of Her Majesty to revoke or vary Orders in Council under the said Act and under section four of the Solicitors' Act, 1957, shall include power to revoke or vary the Order of 1919 so far as continued in force by this paragraph.

Merchant shipping—certificates of competency

6(1)A certificate of competency as—

(a)master, first mate or second mate of a foreign-going ship within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 ; or

(b)first-class or second-class engineer ; or

(c)first-class or second-class motor engineer,

granted under the Merchant Shipping (Certificates of Competency) Act, 1925 (an enactment of the legislature of the Republic) and any equivalent certificate of competency granted under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (an enactment of the said legislature), being a certificate granted by the appropriate authority on or after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, but before the commencement of this Act, shall be of the same force as if it had been granted in the United Kingdom under the said Act of 1894.

(2)The provisions of the said Act of 1894 which relate to certificates of competency granted under that Act (except those relating to certificates for a home-trade passenger ship, and section one hundred and one) shall apply to any such certificate as is described in the foregoing paragraph, and to any certificate certified by the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen to have been issued by the proper authority after the commencement of this Act in place of such a certificate.

(3)In this paragraph " the proper authority " means the authority for the time being empowered by the legislature of the Republic to grant certificates of competency under the enactments of that legislature relating to merchant shipping.

Indication of origin of goods

7(1)For the purposes of the following provisions of the Merchandise Marks Acts, 1887 to 1953, that is to say—

(a)subsection (1) (d) of section two of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887 (application of false trade description to goods);

(b)subsection (2) of (the said section two (sale of goods bearing false trade description); and

(c)subsection (1) of section one of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1926, and any Order in Council made under subsection (1) of section two of that Act (sale of goods lacking indication of origin),

so far as those provisions apply to anything done before the relevant date prescribed by this paragraph, the word " Empire ", when used in relation to goods or things manufactured or produced in the Republic or in 'the mandated territory of South West Africa, shall be deemed not to constitute a false trade description, or shal be deemed to constitute a sufficient indication of origin, as the case may be.

(2)For the purposes of this paragraph the relevant date—

(a)in relation to subsection (1)(d) of section two of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, is the thirty-first day of October, nineteen hundred and sixty-two';

(b)in relation to the other provisions referred to in sub-paragraph (1), is the thirty-first day of October, nineteen hundred and sixty-three:

Provided that for the purposes of section sixteen of the said Act of 1887 (prohibition on importation), the question whether any goods are goods which, if sold, would be liable to forfeiture under that Act shall be determined as if the thirty-first day of October, nineteen hundred and sixty-two, were 'the relevant date in relation to all the provisions referred to in sub-paragraph (1).

Old age pensions

8(1)In relation to any person to whom this paragraph applies, subsection (1) of section two of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1936 (statutory conditions for receipt of old age pension) shall (without prejudice to the restrictions imposed on the payment of such pensions by subsection (3) of section seventy-four of the National Insurance Act, 1946) have effect as if for paragraph (b) there were substituted the following paragraph:—

“(b)the person shall satisfy the pension authorities that for at least ten years up to the date of the receipt of any sum on account of a pension he has been a British subject, or a citizen of the Republic of South Africa, or partly the one and partly the other, and that he has been resident in the United Kingdom, if he was born a British subject, for an aggregate period of not less than twelve years since attaining the age of fifty years or, in the case of a blind person, twenty years and, if he was not born a British subject, for an aggregate period of twenty years ;”.

(2)This paragraph applies to any person who satisfies the pension authorities (within the meaning of the said section two) that he was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, a British subject by virtue of being a citizen of the Republic, but ceased to be a British subject at the commencement of this Act (whether or not he has subsequently become a British subject again).

(3)References in the foregoing provisions of this paragraph to section two of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1936, and section seventy-four of the National Insurance Act, 1946, include respectively references to section two of the Old Age Pensions Act (Northern Ireland), 1936, and section seventy-one of the National Insurance Act (Northern Ireland), 1946.

Recognition of matrimonial decrees and orders

9Any decree or order made before the commencement of this Act by virtue of a law of the Republic, being a decree or order of which the validity was required to be recognised in any British court by virtue of section four of the Matrimonial Causes (War Marriages) Act, 1944, shall continue to be so recognised as valid in all British courts as respects which that section has effect, notwithstanding that the Republic is not a part of Her Majesty's dominions.

Teachers

10(1)Section eleven of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1948 and section twenty-two of the Teachers (Superannuation) (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland), 1956 (power to make rules for treating certain overseas employments as approved external service in relation to teachers) and any rules made thereunder (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) shall have effect in relation to any person to whom this paragraph applies as if the Republic were a part of Her Majesty's dominions.

(2)This paragraph applies to any teacher who at any time during the three months immediately preceding the commencement of this Act was employed in the Republic or in the mandated territory of South West Africa in approved external service (within the meaning of section thirteen of 'the Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1925, or section thirteen of the Teachers (Superannuation) Act (Northern Ireland), 1950, as the case may be).

FOURTH SCHEDULEConsequential Amendments

FIFTH SCHEDULERepeals