§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many regulations originating from the EU have been implemented by the Department over each of the last five years. [120845]
§ Mr. MacShaneRegulations are, in general, directly applicable in the member states, without the need for implementation in national law. This has been a fundamental requirement of our membership of the EU since we joined in 1973.
The total number of EC, ECSC and Euratom regulations made over each of the last five years is estimated to be:
Number 1998 2,852 1999 2,802 2000 2,882 2001 2,600 20021 2,125 1 Up to and including November It should be noted that many of these are small or technical regulations to amend, implement or indeed repeal existing measures.
It would incur disproportionate cost to identify which Government Department was responsible for each of 65W these regulations. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office plays a co-ordinating role in the UK's EU policy, and so rarely has lead responsibility for EC regulations.