european communities act 1972

• European Communities Act 1972

  • some EU legislation ,e.g. regulations, apply directly in the UK without further legislation by parliament
  • some eu legislation ,e.g Directives, are incorporated by Parliament into UK law
  • where interpretation of EU law is in doubt in the UK, the UK must refer judgement to the european court of justice, which must 'strike down' UK legislation that is incompatible with EU law
• European Communities Act - Its significance

  arguably the most important constitutional change because it can be interpreted as shifting sovereignty away from parliament and towards the EU

  • "you cannot express the sovereignty of parliament and accept the 1972 communities act" BJ
  • sovereignty is not undermined because Parliament can repeal any laws implementing the EU
  • Parliament cannot pick and choose which provisions of EU law to follow
• European Communities Act and Brexit

  • britons voted in a referendum on june 23rd 2016 to leave the EU
  • in october 2016, theresa may promised a great repeal bill
  • the great repeal bill would transfer all the repeal bill would transfer all the regulations from the 1972 act into uk law
  • any unwanted element could then be removed from uk statute law on a case-by-case basis
  • the european union (withdrawal) bill was introduced into parliament in july 2017