European Communities Act 1972 (UK)

European Communities Act 1972

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision in connection with the enlargement of the European Communities to include the United Kingdom, together with (for certain purposes) the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar.
Citation	1972 c. 68
Introduced by	Geoffrey Rippon, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Commons) Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, Lord Chancellor (Lords)
Territorial extent	United Kingdom (England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) Isle of Man Bailiwick of Jersey Bailiwick of Guernsey Gibraltar (by implication of the wording of long title and sections 2(6) and 4(4))
Dates
Royal assent	17 October 1972
Commencement	17 October 1972 (partly in force) 1 January 1973 (wholly in force)
Repealed	31 January 2020 (although the effect of the act was saved by section 1A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 until 31 December 2020)
Other legislation
Amended by	European Communities (Greek Accession) Act 1979 European Communities (Spanish and Portuguese Accession) Act 1985 European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986 European Economic Area Act 1993 European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 European Union (Accessions) Act 1994 European Communities (Amendment) Act 1998 European Communities (Amendment) Act 2002 European Union (Accessions) Act 2003 European Union (Accessions) Act 2006 European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 European Union Act 2011 European Union (Croatian Accession and Irish Protocol) Act 2013
Repealed by	European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
Relates to	Referendum Act 1975 European Assembly Elections Act 1978 European Parliamentary Elections Act 1993 European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 European Union Referendum Act 2015 European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

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The European Communities Act 1972 (c. 68), also known as the ECA 1972, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made legal provision for the accession of the United Kingdom as a member state to the three European Communities (EC) – the European Economic Community (EEC, the 'Common Market'), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, which became defunct in 2002); the EEC and ECSC subsequently became the European Union.

The Act also incorporated Community Law (later European Union Law), along with its acquis communautaire, its treaties, regulations, directives, decisions, the Community Customs Union (later European Union Customs Union), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Common Fisheries Policy (FCP) together with judgments of the European Court of Justice into the domestic law of the United Kingdom.

The Treaty of Accession was signed by the then Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath and the then President of the European Commission Franco Maria Malfatti in Brussels on 22 January 1972;^{[citation needed]} the UK's accession into the Communities was subsequently ratified via the Act to have full legal force from 1 January 1973.

Although not specifically stated within the legislation but due to the principle of Community Law (subsequently European Union Law) having primacy over the domestic national laws of the member states which was first established though the Costa v ENEL European Court of Justice ruling in 1964 as a consequence it also became binding on all legislation passed by the UK Parliament (and also upon the UK's devolved administrations—the Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) although none of these institutions existed at the time of the passing of the Act). It was the most significant constitutional statute to be passed by the Heath government of 1970–1974, and one of the most significant UK constitutional statutes to ever be passed by the UK Parliament.

The Act was at the time of its repeal significantly amended from its original form, incorporating the changes wrought by the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty, the Amsterdam Treaty, the Nice Treaty, and the Lisbon Treaty.

On 13 July 2017, the then Brexit Secretary, David Davis, introduced what became the European Union (Withdrawal) Act to Parliament, which made provision for repealing the 1972 Act on "exit day", which was when enacted defined as 29 March 2019 at 11 p.m.(London time, GMT), but later postponed by EU decision first to either 22 May 2019 or 12 April 2019, later to 31 October 2019, and then again to 31 January 2020.

The Act was repealed on 31 January 2020 by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, although its effect was 'saved' under the provisions of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. This provision was in effect from 31 January 2020 (when the United Kingdom formally left the European Union) until the end of the Brexit implementation period on 31 December 2020, when the "saving" provisions were automatically repealed.

The repeal of these last remaining provisions ended the automatic incorporation into UK law of all future EU laws (with all previous EU laws being retained and transferred into UK law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018), and most future judgments of the ECJ as well as the regulations of the European Union Customs Union, the European Single Market, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy, after 48 years on the statute book (with the exception to Northern Ireland under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol), bringing to an end decades of political debate and discussions about the constitutional significance of the Act and its effect on the principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.