2019 No. 859
EXITING THE EUROPEAN UNION
The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (Exit Day) (Amendment)
(No. 2) Regulations 2019
Made
at 3.15 p.m. on 11th April 2019
Laid before Parliament
at 4:15p.m.on 11th April 2019
Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1
The day on which the Treaties() are to cease to apply
to the United Kingdom in accordance with Article 50(3) of the
Treaty on European Union is different from that specified in
the definition of “exit day” in section 20(1) of the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018().
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred
by section 20(4) of that Act(), makes the following
Regulations.
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (Exit Day) (Amendment)
(No. 2) Regulations 2019 and come into force immediately after
they are made.
Amendment to the definition of “exit day”
2.—(1) Section 20 of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 (interpretation) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1), in the definition of “exit day”, for
the words from “means—” to “(and”, substitute “means 31 October
2019 at 11.00 p.m. (and”.
(3) In subsection (2), for the words from “Act—” to the end
of the subsection, substitute “Act references to before, after or
on exit day, or to beginning with exit day, are to be read as
references to before, after or at 11.00 p.m. on 31 October 2019
or (as the case may be) to beginning with 11.00 p.m. on that
day.”.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Department for Exiting the European Union
At 3.15 p.m. on 11th April 2019
EXPLANATORY NOTE
These Regulations amend the definition of “exit day” in the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) (“the 2018
Act”) and come into force immediately after they are made.
In accordance with the European Council decision on 22nd March
2019 (European Council Decision
(EU) 2019/476, O.J. No. L 80 I, p.1), an extension to the
period in Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union was
agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Council. As a
result, the Treaties of the European Union (“the Treaties”) were
due to cease to apply to the United Kingdom at 11.00 p.m. on 12th
April 2019.
On 11th April 2019 a further extension of the period in Article
50(3) was agreed between the United Kingdom and the European
Council (European Council Decision
(EU) 2019/584, O.J. No. L 101, p.1). As a result, the
Treaties instead cease to apply to the United Kingdom at 11.00
p.m. on 31st October 2019.
Regulation 2 amends the definition of “exit day” in section 20(1)
and (2) of the 2018 Act to ensure that it reflects the new day
and time that the Treaties cease to apply to the United Kingdom
in light of the further extension.
