The European Communities Act 1972 (c. 68), also known as the ECA 1972, was an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

which made legal provision for the accession of the United Kingdom as a

member state A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

to the three

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of Institutions of the European Union, institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Co ...

(EC) the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

(EEC, the 'Common Market'), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...

(ECSC, which became defunct in 2002); the EEC and ECSC subsequently became the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The Act also incorporated Community Law (later European Union Law), along with its , its

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

s, directives, decisions, the Community Customs Union (later European Union Customs Union), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Common Fisheries Policy (FCP) together with judgments of the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

into the domestic law of the United Kingdom. The Treaty of Accession was signed by the then

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

and the then

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

Franco Maria Malfatti in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

on 22 January 1972; the UK's accession into the Communities was subsequently ratified via the Act to have full legal force from 1 January 1973. Although not specifically stated within the legislation but due to the principle of Community Law (subsequently European Union Law) having primacy over the domestic national laws of the member states which was first established though the Costa v ENEL

ruling in 1964 as a consequence it also became binding on all legislation passed by the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

(and also upon the UK's devolved administrations—the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

and the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) although none of these institutions existed at the time of the passing of the Act). It was the most significant constitutional statute to be passed by the Heath government of 1970–1974, and one of the most significant UK constitutional statutes to ever be passed by the UK Parliament. The Act was at the time of its repeal significantly amended from its original form, incorporating the changes wrought by the

Single European Act The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Act set the European Community an objective of establishing a single market by 31 December 1992, and a forerunner of the European Union's Common Fore ...

, the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...

, the Amsterdam Treaty, the Nice Treaty, and the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...

. On 13 July 2017, the then Brexit Secretary, David Davis, introduced what became the European Union (Withdrawal) Act to Parliament, which made provision for repealing the 1972 Act on "exit day", which was when enacted defined as 29 March 2019 at 11 p.m.(London time, GMT), but later postponed by EU decision first to either 22 May 2019 or 12 April 2019, later to 31 October 2019, and then again to 31 January 2020. The Act was repealed on 31 January 2020 by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, although its effect was 'saved' under the provisions of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. This provision was in effect from 31 January 2020 (when the United Kingdom formally left the European Union) until the end of the Brexit implementation period on 31 December 2020, when the "saving" provisions were automatically repealed. The repeal of these last remaining provisions ended the automatic incorporation into

UK law The United Kingdom has three distinctly different legal systems, each of which derives from a particular geographical area for a variety of historical reasons: English law (in the joint jurisdiction of England and Wales), Scots law, Northern ...

of all future EU laws (with all previous EU laws being retained and transferred into UK law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018), and most future judgments of the ECJ as well as the regulations of the European Union Customs Union, the European Single Market, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy, after 48 years on the statute book (with the exception to Northern Ireland under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol), bringing to an end decades of political debate and discussions about the constitutional significance of the Act and its effect on the principle of

Parliamentary sovereignty Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over al ...

Origin and background

When the

(EC) came into being in 1958, the UK chose to remain aloof and instead join the alternative bloc, EFTA. Almost immediately the British government regretted its decision, and in 1961, along with Denmark, Ireland and Norway, the UK applied to join the three Communities. However, President

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

saw British membership as a

Trojan Horse In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending ...

for US influence, and vetoed it; all four applications were suspended. The four countries resubmitted their applications in 1967, and the French veto was lifted upon

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( ; ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously served as Prime Minister of France under President Charles de Gaulle from 19 ...

succeeding de Gaulle in 1969. In 1970, accession negotiations took place between the

UK Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

, led by

, the

and various European leaders. Despite disagreements over the

CAP A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

and the UK's relationship with the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

, terms were agreed. In October 1971, after a lengthy six day

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

debate on a white paper motion on the principle of accession, MPs voted 356–244 in favour of joining the EC. For the Treaty to take effect upon entry into the Communities on 1 January 1973, and for the UK to embrace the EEC Institutions and Community law, an Act of Parliament was required. Only three days after the signing of the Treaty, a European Communities Bill of just 12 clauses, was presented to the House of Commons by

Geoffrey Rippon Aubrey Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, (28 May 1924 – 28 January 1997) was a British Conservative Party politician. He is most known for drafting the European Communities Act 1972 which took the United Kingdom into the E ...

. The European Communities Act came into being, and Edward Heath signed the Treaty of Accession in

on 22 January 1972. Denmark and Ireland also joined the Communities on the same day, 1 January 1973, as the UK; the Norwegian people had rejected membership in a referendum in 1972.

First Reading (House of Commons)

The European Communities Bill was introduced the House of Commons for its first reading by

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. Excluding the prime minister, the chancellor is the highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the prime minister ...

on 26 January 1972.

Second Reading (House of Commons)

On 17 February 1972, the House of Commons voted narrowly by 309–301 in favour of the Bill at its second reading, after three days of intense debate. The Bill then passed on to Committee Stage before its third reading.

Third Reading (House of Commons)

During this discussion in the House of Commons, MPs pointed out that the Government had structured the European Communities Bill so that Parliament could debate the technical issues about how the treaty enactment would occur (how the UK would join the European Communities) but could not debate the treaty of accession itself and decried this sacrifice of Parliament's sovereignty to the Government's desire to join the European project. On 13 July 1972, the House of Commons voted 301–284 in favour of the Bill in its third and final reading before passing on to the House of Lords. The Bill then passed to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Royal assent, Ratification, and Taking Effect

The Act received Royal Assent on 17 October, and the UK's instrument of ratification of the Treaty of Accession was deposited the next day with the Italian government (the traditional European Communities treaty records holder) as required by the Treaty. Since the Treaty specified its effective date as 1 January 1973 (in Article 2) and the Act specified only "entry date" for its actions, the Act and the Treaty took effect 1 January 1973, when the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

officially became a member state of the European Communities (subsequently the

) along with

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

The Act

The European Communities Act was the instrument whereby the UK Parliament effected the changes required by the Treaty of Accession by which the UK joined the

(then known as the

). The Act as passed in its original form was, given its constitutional significance, surprisingly short and contained just twelve clauses.

Community Law (EU Law)

The Act made the historic legal provision by incorporating and binding Community Law (subsequently

European Union Law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

) and rulings from the

into the domestic law of the United Kingdom along with its and its

s and directives. In effect this legislation made ''Community Law (EU Law) '' another form of

UK Law The United Kingdom has three distinctly different legal systems, each of which derives from a particular geographical area for a variety of historical reasons: English law (in the joint jurisdiction of England and Wales), Scots law, Northern ...

. The provisions for this was laid out in Section 2 of the Act. It enabled, under section 2(2), UK government ministers to make regulations to

transpose In linear algebra, the transpose of a Matrix (mathematics), matrix is an operator which flips a matrix over its diagonal; that is, it switches the row and column indices of the matrix by producing another matrix, often denoted by (among other ...

EU Directives (then Community law) and rulings of the European Court of Justice into UK law. The Treaty itself says the member states will conform themselves to the European Communities existing and future decisions. The Act and the Treaty of Accession have been interpreted by UK courts as granting EU law primacy over domestic UK legislation.

European Economic Community (EEC)

The Act legislated for the United Kingdom's accession to the European Economic Community (EEC), which was at the time the main international organisation of the three Communities (more commonly known at the time as the Common Market) and incorporated its rules and regulations into the domestic law of the United Kingdom.

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

The Act legislated for the United Kingdom's accession to the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and incorporated its rules and regulations into the domestic law of the United Kingdom.

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom)

The Act legislated for the United Kingdom's accession to the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) and incorporated its rules and regulations into the domestic law of the United Kingdom.

The European Treaties

The Act incorporated the following treaties into the domestic law of the United Kingdom. *

Treaty of Paris (1951) The Treaty of Paris (formally the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community) was signed on 18 April 1951 between France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, establishing the European Coal and Steel C ...

Treaty of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was signe ...

* Euratom Treaty *

Merger Treaty The Merger Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Brussels, was a European treaty which unified the executive institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Commun ...

* Budgetary Treaty of 1970 * Treaty of Accession 1972 The following treaties were added to the act though subsequent amendments. * Treaty of Accession 1979 (through the European Communities (Greek Accession) Act 1979) *

Treaty of Accession 1985 The Treaty of Accession 1985 was the agreement between the member states of the European Communities, Spain and Portugal, concerning these countries' accession into the EC. It entered into force on 1 January 1986. The Treaty arranged accession ...

(through the European Communities (Spanish and Portuguese Accession) Act 1985) *

(through the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986) * EEA Agreement (through the European Economic Area Act 1993) *

(through the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993) * Treaty of Accession 1994 (through the European Union (Accessions) Act 1994) * Amsterdam Treaty (through the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1998) * Treaty of Nice (through the European Communities (Amendment) Act 2002) * Treaty of Accession 2003 (through the European Union (Accessions) Act 2003) * Treaty of Accession 2005 (through the

European Union (Accessions) Act 2006 The European Union (Accessions) Act 2006 (c 2) is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which ratified and legislated for the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union. It received ...

) *

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...

(through the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008) * Treaty of Accession 2011 (through the European Union (Croatian Accession and Irish Protocol) Act 2013)

Common Agricultural Policy

The Act legislated for the full participation of the United Kingdom in the Common Agricultural Policy and fully incorporated the policy into UK domestic law. It established the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce. It repealed previous pieces of UK domestic legislation to allow for this.

Common Fisheries Policy

The Act legislated for the full participation of the United Kingdom in the Common Fisheries Policy and fully incorporates the policy into UK domestic law.

Customs Union

The Act legislated for the incorporation and full participation of the United Kingdom within the European Union Customs Union (then the Community Customs Union) into domestic law, as well as the application of the European common external tariff to all goods which come into the UK from outside the European Communities. The Act repealed large sections of previous UK domestic legislation to allow for this.

Effect and primacy of EC/EU law

The primacy and direct effect of EU law has no formal basis in the founding treaties of the union, but was developed by the

(ECJ), long before UK accession, on the grounds that the purpose of the treaties would be thwarted if EU law were subordinate to national law. The view of the ECJ is that any norm of EU law takes precedence over national law, including national constitutions. Most national courts, including the United Kingdom's, do not accept this

monist Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...

perspective. The primacy of EU law in the United Kingdom during the time of its membership was derived from the European Communities Act in Section 2 (4). The

British constitution The constitution of the United Kingdom comprises the written and unwritten arrangements that establish the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a political body. Unlike in most countries, no official attempt has been made to c ...

is based on

and has a dualist view of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

: international treaties do not become part of UK domestic law unless they are incorporated into UK law by an Act of Parliament. This means that if the Act were repealed, any EU law (unless it has been transposed into British legislation) would, in practice, become unenforceable in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, and the powers delegated by the Act to the EU institutions would return to the

. This was attempted to made clear to be the law in the United Kingdom by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition with the inclusion of the "sovereignty clause" in the EU Act 2011 which was passed by the UK Parliament when the UK was still an EU member state.

''Factortame''

In the

'' Factortame'' case,

Lord Bridge Nigel Cyprian Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich, PC (26 February 1917 − 20 November 2007) was a British judge, who served as Lord of Appeal in Ordinary between 1980 and 1992. A leading appellate judge, Bridge is also remembered for having pres ...

confirmed that section 2(4) of the ECA effectively automatically inserts a virtual (implied) clause into all UK statutes, that they are to be automatically disapplied wherever they come into conflict with European law. This is seen by the legal scholar William Wade as a departure from the English constitutional doctrine of Westminster

parliamentary sovereignty Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over al ...

as it was and had been traditionally understood.

Repeal

The United Kingdom voted for

withdrawal from the European Union Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". Currently, the United Kingdom is the only state to ha ...

in the referendum held on 23 June 2016, and afterwards there was speculation that the act would be either repealed or amended. In October 2016, Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

promised a "Great Repeal Bill" which would repeal the 1972 Act and import its regulations into UK law, with effect from the date of British withdrawal; the regulations could then be amended or repealed on a case-by-case basis. The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 13 July 2017. It was passed by Parliament on 20 June 2018, and received royal assent on 26 June 2018. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 provides for the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 at the time the United Kingdom exits the EU, on 29 March 2019 at 11:00 pm. However, in a July 2018

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...

, the government announced its intention to amend the Withdrawal Act to provide for the continued effect of the ECA until the end of the "transition period" (31 December 2020, as of July 2018), therefore allowing EU law to continue to apply in that period. This was achieved when the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 was passed in January 2020 which "saved" the effect of the ECA until the end of the implementation period which was scheduled for 31 December 2020 before it was automatically repealed.

Notes

References

External links

Image of the Act on the UK Parliament website
{{Edward Heath, state=autocollapse United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1972 Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom relating to the European Union European Union law United Kingdom and the European Union 1972 in the European Economic Community