§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the President of the Council if he will list the(a) Government and (b) parliamentary publications relating to the operation of the Ponsonby Rules in relation to the European Communities Act 1972. [19353]
§ Mrs. Ann Taylor[holding answer 11 December 1997]:The practice known as the Ponsonby Rule applies to all treaties signed by the United Kingdom which are subject to ratification, acceptance or approval and to any treaty to which the United Kingdom intends to accede. It provides for such treaties to be laid before Parliament for a period of 21 sitting days before the United Kingdom ratifies, accepts, approves or accedes to them. Since 1 January 1997 such treaties when laid before Parliament have been accompanied by an Explanatory Memorandum (copies of guidance for Departments entitled "Guidelines on Explanatory Memoranda for Treaties" were placed in the Libraries of both Houses). The practice has no particular relationship to any Act of Parliament, and there has been no recent Government or Parliamentary publication relating to it.