§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many directly applicable regulations of the European Community have had, without further enactment, the force of law in the United Kingdom (a) at the time of accession to the Community; and (b) in the course of each calendar year subsequent to that of accession until the year 2001; and whether they will place in the Library of the House the reference numbers, names of each such regulation and year of application, listed under the headings of the principal and other departments of state. [HL649]
§ The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)EC regulations are, in general, directly applicable in the member states, without the need for further incorporation into national law. However, some regulations require UK measures to make them workable and enforceable. It would incur14WA disproportionate cost to identify the number of regulations enacted at the time of the UK's accession to the European Community.
Some regulations enact small or technical amendments. Others may have been repealed since their enactment. As far as we have been able to verify, the number of regulations enacted since the UK's accession are as follows:
- 1973: 3,616
- 1974: 3,331
- 1975: 3,426
- 1976: 3,237
- 1977: 3,026
- 1978: 3,181
- 1979: 3,074
- 1980: 3,565
- 1981: 3,827
- 1982: 3,633
- 1983: 3,762
- 1984: 3,723
- 1985: 3,836
- 1986: 4,137
- 1987: 4,189
- 1988: 4,283
- 1989: 4,064
- 1990: 3,944
- 1991: 3,925
- 1992: 3,956
- 1993: 3,699
- 1994: 3,385
- 1995: 3,096
- 1996: 2,525
- 1997: 2,653
- 1998: 2,866
- 1999: 2,820
- 2000: 2,909
- 2001: 2,611
- 2002 (up to August): 1,512
Given the volume of regulations involved, it would incur disproportionate cost to place in the Library the reference numbers, names and year of application of each of the regulations.