§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the total number of statutory instruments purporting to be applicable to the United Kingdom issued by the European Economic Community since Great Britain joined that organisation.
§ Mr. HattersleyAll regulations issued by the European Communities, and most other Community instruments, are published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
According to the Official Journal a total of approximately 3,600 regulations and 450 of the other kinds of Community instruments described in Article 189 of the EEC Treaty and equivalent articles of the ECSC and Euratom treaties were made by the Council and Commission in 1973. The equivalent figures so far this year are approximately 1,600 regulations and 300 other instruments. Not all of the instruments in the second category are necessarily applicable to the United Kingdom, and some do not have binding force.