Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom relating to the European Communities and the European Union

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This is a list of current, amended, spent and repealed Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom relating to its membership of the European Communities and the European Union from 1972 to the present.

Some of the acts (particularly the European Communities Act 1972 and the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 represent some of the most important constitutional legislation currently on the statue book .

Act of United Kingdom accession and membership to the European Communities / European Union

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Communities Act 19726817 October 1972Amended

This act legislated for the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities which later became the European Union and also gave legal effect to European Union Law (then Community law) which came into effect on 1 January 1973, the day the UK officially joined.

Amending acts

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Communities (Amendment) Act 19865817 November 1986Current

This act incorporated the Single European Act into the 1972 Act.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Communities (Amendment) Act 19933620 July 1993Amended

This act incorporated the Maastricht Treaty into the 1972 Act which created the European Union.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Communities (Amendment) Act 19982111 June 1998Current

This act incorporated the Amsterdam Treaty into the 1972 Act.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Communities (Amendment) Act 2002326 February 2002Current

This act incorporated the Nice Treaty into the 1972 Act.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Union (Amendment) Act 2008719 June 2008Current

This act incorporated the Treaty of Lisbon into the 1972 Act.

Finance acts

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Communities (Finance) Act 2001224 December 2001Repealed
European Communities (Finance) Act 2008119 February 2008Current
European Union (Finance) Act 20153221 July 2015Current

These acts also amend the 1972 Act.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
Referendum Act 1975338 May 1975Repealed

This act legislated for the holding of the United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum which was held on Thursday 5 June 1975.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Economic Area Act 1993105 November 1993Current

This act incorporated the agreement which created the European Economic Area which came into effect on 1 January 1994.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Assembly Elections Act 1978105 May 1978Repealed
European Assembly (Pay and Pensions) Act 19795026 July 1979Amended
European Parliamentary Elections Act 1993415 November 1993Repealed
European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999114 January 1999Repealed
European Parliamentary Elections Act 20022424 July 2002Current
European Parliament (Representation) Act 200378 May 2003Current

These acts legislated for the holding of European Parliament elections within the United Kingdom.

European Union Act & amending acts

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Union Act 20111119 July 2011Amended
(Probably partially spent)

This act amended the 2002 Act and legislated for the requirement of a UK-wide referendum for any approval of any proposed transfers of power to the EU.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Act 20121531 October 2012Probably spent
European Union (Approvals) Act 20153717 December 2015Probably spent

This act approves under the European Union Act 2011 the creation of the European Stability Mechanism for Eurozone states and approves for Macedonia to become an observer in the work of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Accession acts

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Communities (Greek Accession) Act 19795020 December 1979Spent
European Communities (Spanish and Portuguese Accession) Act 19857519 December 1985Spent
European Union (Accessions) Act 1994383 November 1994Spent
European Union (Accessions) Act 20033513 November 2003Spent
European Union (Accessions) Act 2006216 February 2006Spent
European Union (Croatian Accession and Irish Protocol) Act 2013531 January 2013Current

These acts legislated for subsequent enlargements of the European Communities/European Union.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Union Referendum Act 20153617 December 2015Spent

This act requires the holding of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum no later than 31 December 2017, and was duly held on Thursday 23 June 2016.

Act related to the invocation of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017916 March 2017Spent

This act (now spent) authorises the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to notify the European Union of the United Kingdom's intention to withdraw by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, in pursuance of and subsequent to the case of R (on the application of Miller and Dos Santos [and others]) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

ActChapter (c.)Royal AssentCurrent status
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 20181626 June 2018Current

This act legislates to enable the implementation of the country's exit from the European Union (Brexit) and automatically repeals the European Communities Act 1972 on "exit day" – defined in the legislation as 29 March 2019 (at 11.00 p.m.) although until then it remains legally on the statute book with full legal force.

See also

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