HC Deb 25 July 1977 vol 936 c91W
Mr. Pavitt

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how the Government will fulfil the undertaking given on 25th April to provide fuller information about treaties referred to in draft orders laid before the House under Section 1(3) of the European Communities Act.

Mr. Judd

In order to assist Parliament in the consideration of draft orders under Section 1(3), of the European Communities Act, the government will, to accompany future orders, provide a summary of the content and context of the treaties being specified and an opinion—subject to the caveat that final judgment would lie with the courts—as to the clauses in them which would be likely to become directly applicable as Community law in the United Kingdom. It is the Government's intention to provide this information in the form of an Explanatory Memorandum for the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. Copies of this Memorandum will also be deposited in the Vote Office when the motion to move the Order first appears on the Order Paper.