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7. The position regarding the two Bills which LFG have agreed are candidates for early introduction in the new session, namely the European Communities (Amendment) Bill and the Mauritius Republic Bill, is as follows: Parliamentary Counsel have prepared a first draft of the Bill amending the European Communities Act and this is under discussion by officials. The Bill will incorporate into UK law the relevant provisions of the Treaty on European Union signed at Maastricht to enable us to meet its obligations. It will also amend Section 1(3) of the European Communities Act 1972 to head off the threat of infraction proceedings against the UK. This was agreed in principle by Ministers before the election. Ministers will also need to consider whether the Bill should amend Section 2 (2) of the 1972 Act to enable the Government to give effect to a wider range of Community obligations by statutory instrument. Since policy approval has not yet been obtained for this, the amendment to Section 2 (2) of the 1972 Act is not contained in the
current draft of the Bill. The Secretary of State is being recommended in a separate submission that he write to his colleagues to ask them not to agree to this proposal.
8.
With regard to the Mauritius Republic Bill, there have been two developments since the FLG Committee agreed the candidate lists. The first is that Mauritius was proclaimed
a Republic on 12 March 1992. The second is that the Lord
President has given his consent for the Bill to be drafted by Parliamentary Counsel. A draft has now been prepared and is being circulated around interested Whitehall Departments.
K J Chamberlain
K172
270 3084
CONFIDENTIAL
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