§ Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbottsasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why it has taken four years to bring into force the Nuclear Safeguards Act 2000 through the Nuclear Safeguards Act (Commencment No. 1) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/1242). [HL3086]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe Nuclear Safeguards Act 2000 is the domestic legislation that implements the additional protocol to the UK/Euratom/IAEA safeguards agreement. The member states of the European Union agreed that all of the additional protocols applicable to them should enter into force at the same time. This required all of the then 15 member states and the European Commission to notify the IAEA that their statutory and/or constitutional requirements for implementation were in place. The final notification required was given to the IAEA on 30 April 2004, and the commencement order for the Act was made the same day.