Treaty of Rome and Single European Act (Hansard, 27 June 1991)

§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Waddington)
My Lords, the original authentic text of the Treaty of Rome was published in the Official Journal in 1957. Her Majesty's Stationery Office has published a series of abridged editions of it with subsequent amendments. The two volumes referred to by the noble Lord were published in 1987 by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities and contain the amended text of the treaty incorporating the Single European Act. Much related material is also included. I am pleased to inform the noble Lord that there is now a copy of this version in the Library. HMSO reproduced this text, minus the supplementary material, in 1988 as Cm 455. It required no separate authentication by the European Commission.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his most courteous and prompt 702 responses to my verbal approaches. Why is it that the amended Treaty of Rome, as amended by the Single European Act of 1986, was published in the Official Journal only in French? Why was no official version available at that time in the English language, as is customary? Does the Minister agree that so far—apart from the two volume official version of the Commission's Treaty of Rome of 1979 which has just been placed in the Library—this House and another place have not been provided with an authenticated copy of the original Treaty of Rome which the intergovernmental conference that is now taking place seeks to amend? Does not the Minister agree that it is most desirable that the confusion that has hitherto existed about the authenticated text be cleared up as quickly as possible so that the British people may know exactly where they stand in regard to the proposed amendments to the Treaty of Rome?

§ Lord Waddington
My Lords, I have an apology to make to the noble Lord. I am afraid that my letter was not fully authentic when it referred to the publication of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 in French alone. It was published in the then four official languages of French, Dutch, German and Italian. As regards the noble Lord's second point, Cm 455 is a copy of the two volume edition to which the noble Lord refers. Two volumes are required as they contain many related documents, including all the documents supporting the applications for accession to the Treaty of Rome by the various countries which joined the EC at a later date.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, will the Minister explain to the House why the two volume text is not available in the Printed Paper Office? What is the reason for the discrepancy between the EC text and Cm 455? Who decides the level of expense that may be incurred in making official government publications available in the Printed Paper Office?

§ Lord Waddington
My Lords, the two volume edition costs £80. Decisions on whether any paper is too expensive to be stocked by the Printed Paper Office are taken in the normal course of events by the senior clerk of the Printed Paper Office who operates within guidelines set by the Administration Committee. In contentious cases the decision is referred to the Clerk of the Parliaments. I am not aware of any discrepancy between the two volume edition and Cm 455. However, the two volume edition contains a lot of material related to the treaty, but far more than the text of the treaty.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, does not the Minister agree that the extremely important points made by my noble friend Lord Bruce of Donington are of great interest not only to this House but also to the general public? The points my noble friend has raised could have a great effect upon the future of this country. Therefore, should not this matter be examined extremely seriously?

§ Lord Waddington
I am sorry, my Lords, but I missed the last sentence of the noble Lord's question.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, I asked whether the noble Lord agrees that the points raised by my noble friend Lord Bruce of Donington are worthy of thorough examination in the interests not merely of this House but of the entire British people.

§ Lord Waddington
My Lords, I do not disagree with the noble Lord. The points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Bruce of Donington, are very important indeed. However, I hope that I have reassured the House in pointing out that the two-volume edition costs £80 but that there is available the HMSO edition which costs only £13.30. The latter is a copy of the relevant parts of the two-volume edition.

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, in view of the high level of interest shown by your Lordships in European affairs, would it not be desirable that copies of the consolidated edition should be freely available to Members of this House? I should have thought that one copy only shared among possibly 500 or more Members might be thought to be a rather thin supply. Does my noble friend also agree that the second volume contains important protocols, some of which relate to dependencies of the British Crown?

§ Lord Waddington
My Lords, I have already made clear that ultimately decisions on these matters are for the Clerk of the Parliaments. However, one has to bear cost in mind and one has to bear in mind that Cm 455 was produced for the specific purpose of being of assistance to Members of both Houses of Parliament. If I am correct in saying that it reproduces accurately the texts as they appear in the two-volume edition, there is a fairly strong argument for bearing in mind that Cm 455 costs £13.30 and the two-volume edition costs £80.

§ Lord Peston
My Lords, I have got myself a little lost in listening to all of this, but I am not a detailed reader of the Act and therefore it is all rather academic. However, I believe that noble Lords would like an assurance. When we deal with Acts of Parliament we are expected to deal with the authentic document. Sometimes when someone gets it wrong he is told that he has not used the right wording. Is the noble Lord the Leader of the House telling us that regarding European Acts there is no shadow of doubt in his mind that the shorter versions are perfectly satisfactory when it comes to dealing with all the statutory matters before us? That is the Question which my noble friend has raised and we should like an assurance that there is no problem whatever.

§ Lord Waddington
My Lords, I have no reason whatever to believe that they are not wholly satisfactory.
I did not answer a question which was posed by a noble Lord a short time ago and I shall do so now. There is no reason why the Commission should go through some procedure in order to mark Cm 455 as authentic. I am not sure what mechanism could be used to bring that about. We are at liberty, for our own convenience, to reproduce documents produced 704 by the Commission. That is what we have done in this particular case for the convenience of Members of both Houses of Parliament.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for correcting the contents of the letter which he was kind enough to address to me on 25th June. Can he give an assurance, particularly in the light of the remarks that have fallen from the lips of the noble Lord, Lord Cockfield, that Cm 455 contains the entire text in the English language of both volumes of the authenticated treaty? If that is not the case, will the noble Lord explain why, in his letter of 25th June, he indicated that Cm 455 was among the abridged versions of the original treaty? Will the noble Lord agree that the consideration of these vital matters, which are of great constitutional importance to the United Kingdom, is probably worth the expenditure of £80 for those of our legislators who are required to consider these important matters in the national interest?

§ Lord Waddington
My Lords, I am sure that I can reassure the noble Lord on the matters which he has raised. Cm 445 contains all the treaties and the protocols. There is also an abridged version of the two-volume text which does not include most of the annexes, protocols and other associated texts which appear in the two-volume edition. I say again that the two-volume edition contains a great deal more than the EC treaty and the Single European Act. The first volume contains all the Community treaties and protocols, and numerous resolutions and declarations in addition. The second volume contains the documents concerning the accession to the Community of Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Greece, Spain and Portugal.