Clause 25 - EEA agreement and EEA state
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
1:45 pm
Jim Murphy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Cabinet Office; East Renfrewshire, Labour)
The whole Committee accepts the point that the hon. Gentleman has made. The clause amends the Interpretation Act 1978 to provide that references in domestic legislation to the “EEA agreement” will automatically refer to the current version of that agreement. There is no need to have a prolonged discussion on the clause unless hon. Members wish to do so.
The hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire made the point about the devolution settlement. My understanding is that the Scottish Executive are content with the approach in clause 25 and how it affects the devolution settlement. As a Scot, I am continuously sensitive to ensuring that our deliberations respect the devolution settlement.
As has been said, the EEA agreement was signed in 1992 and was adjusted by the protocol signed in Brussels on 17 March 1993. References to the “EEA state” and “EEA agreement” are made thousands of times in primary and secondary legislation. Although changes to membership, and therefore to the agreement, do not happen often, when they do, updating thousands of references is an extraordinarily time-consuming and resource-intensive effort. The clause seeks to ensure that such a process is no longer necessary and that we refer to the EEA in its current form. We should not need to replace all those thousands of different references. Given those comments, I move that clause 25 stands part of the Bill.