The European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) is an act of the Irish parliament, the Oireachtas, that incorporates the treaties and law of the European Union into the domestic law of Ireland. The Act did not just incorporate the law of the European Communities which existed at the time of its enactment, but incorporates legislative acts of the Community enacted subsequently. The Act also provides that government ministers may adopt statutory instruments (SIs) to implement EU law, and that those SIs are to have effect as if they were acts of parliament.
Doing either of these things would normally count as an unconstitutional delegation of the legislative power of the state. However this problem was anticipated by the adoption of the Third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which protects any legislation that is necessitated by the obligations of membership of the European Union.
The constitutionality of the Act's provisions regarding statutory instruments was challenged in Meagher v Minister for Agriculture on the basis that they were an unlawful delegation of legislative power by the Oireachtas. The plaintiff was successful in the High Court but the decision was reversed on appeal to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that:
"The court is satisfied that, having regard to the number of community laws, acts done and measures adopted which either have to be facilitated in their direct application to the law of the State or have to be implemented by appropriate action into the law of the State, the obligation of membership would necessitate facilitating of these activities, in some instances, at least, and possibly in a great majority of instances, by the making of ministerial regulations rather than legislation of the Oireachtas."[1]
Notes
↑ Meagher v Minister for Agriculture[1993] IEHC 2at para. 17, [1994] 1 IR 329(18 November 1993)
The European Communities Act 1972, 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 to the three European Communities – the European Economic Community, European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the European Coal and Steel Community ; the EEC and ECSC subsequently became the European Union. The Act also incorporated Community Law into the domestic law of the United Kingdom and its acquis communautaire, its treaties, regulations and directives, together with judgments of the European Court of Justice, and the Community Customs Union, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (FCP).
A statutory instrument (SI) is the principal form in which delegated legislation is made in Great Britain.
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make provisions for securing the public safety and the preservation of the state in time of war and, in particular, to make provision for the maintenance of public order and for the provision and control of supplies and services essential to the life of the community, and to provide for divers and other matters connected with the matters aforesaid.
The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 2009 is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which permitted the state to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union. It was approved by referendum on 2 October 2009.
Primary legislation and secondary legislation are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democracies. Primary legislation generally consists of statutes, also known as 'acts', that set out broad outlines and principles, but delegate specific authority to an executive branch to make more specific laws under the aegis of the principal act. The executive branch can then issue secondary legislation, creating legally enforceable regulations and the procedures for implementing them.
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