Treaty of Rome: Channel Islands and Isle of Man

HL Deb 28 April 1999 vol 600 cc36-7WA

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the legal and constitutional basis for applying the terms of Article 227, paragraph 4, of the Treaty of Rome (which states that "The provisions of the Treaty shall apply to the European Territories for whose external relations a Member State is responsible"), to Gibraltar but not to the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. [HL2047]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

The application of Article 227(4) of the Treaty of Rome to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man is explicitly qualified in the Treaty by Article 227(5) c, which provides that, notwithstanding the previous paragraphs of that article, the "Treaty shall apply to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man to the extent necessary to ensure the implementation of the arrangements for those islands set out in the Treaty concerning the accession of new member States to the European Economic Community and to the European Atomic Energy Community signed on 22 January 1972". The relevant arrangements are set out in Protocol 3 to the Act of Accession annexed to the 1972 Treaty.