Acts of Parliament of predecessor states to the United Kingdom

Acts of English Parliament to 1601 Acts of English Parliament to 1641 Ordinances and Acts (War & Interregnum) to 1660 Acts of English Parliament to 1699 Acts of English Parliament to 1706 Acts of Parliament of Scotland Acts of Irish Parliament to 1700 Acts of Irish Parliament to 1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom

1707–1719 | 1720–1739 | 1740–1759 1760–1779 | 1780–1800 | 1801–1819 1820–1839 | 1840–1859 | 1860–1879 1880–1899 | 1900–1919 | 1920–1939 1940–1959 | 1960–1979 | 1980–1999 2000–Present

Acts of the Scottish Parliament

Acts of the Northern Ireland Parliament

Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly

Measures of the National Assembly for Wales

Orders in Council for Northern Ireland

United Kingdom Statutory Instruments

The European Communities Act (1972 c. 68) is the Act of the United Kingdom Parliament providing for the incorporation of European Community law into the domestic legal order of the United Kingdom. It is not to be confused with the European Communities Act 1972 (Ireland) which did the same thing for the Republic of Ireland.

Its main significance is that (apart from being the instrument whereby the UK was able to accede to the European Union (or 'European Communities' as then termed) it enables under section 2(2) for Government ministers to lay regulations before Parliament to implement required changes to UK law (for example, Decisions of the European Court of Justice and EU Directives.

If the UK Parliament voted for the UK to leave the European Union, then the only action that would need to be taken would be a Parliamentary decision to repeal this Act. The European Union would be powerless to prevent the UK from leaving, although this eventuality is very unlikely.

External links

• Official text of the statute as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
• Full text of the Act

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