PART IICHANGES TO THE QUALIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES AND ASSOCIATED AMENDMENTS ABOUT CITIZENS OF THE UNION
Amendments about candidates etc. to European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 19865
1
In regulation 4 of the European Regulations (interpretation of those Regulations and of provisions applied by them) —
a
before the definition of “day of the poll” there shall be inserted—
“citizen of the Union” shall be construed in accordance with article 8.1 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (as amended by Title II of the Treaty on European Union) and “relevant citizen of the Union” means such a citizen who is not a Commonwealth citizen or citizen of the Republic of Ireland;
b
before the definition of “representative” there shall be inserted—
“Regulations of 1994” means the European Parliamentary Elections (Changes to the Franchise and Qualification of Representatives) Regulations 1994;
2
After regulation 7 of the European Regulations there shall be inserted:
Punishment of false statement in declaration under rule 8(5) of elections rules8
1
A person who makes a statement which he knows to be false in the declaration required by rule 8(5) of the elections rules (as inserted by the Regulations of 1994) is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
2
The provisions of Part III of the Act of 1983 relating to the prosecution of offences, as applied by regulation 5 of, and Schedule 1 to, these Regulations, shall have effect in relation to an offence under this regulation as if it were an offence under the Act of 1983, as so applied.
3
There shall be inserted the following modification of section 178 of the Act of 198314 (prosecution of offences committed outside the United Kingdom), as applied by the left-hand column of Schedule 1 to the European Regulations (application with modifications of provisions of the Representation of the People Acts 1983 and 1985 for the purposes of European Parliamentary elections), in the right-hand column of that Schedule:
For the words “Republic of Ireland” there shall be substituted “Union”.
4
There shall be inserted the following modification of rule 8 (consent to nomination) of the elections rules in Schedule 1 to the Act of 1983, as applied by the left-hand column of Schedule 1 to the European Regulations, after the existing modification in the right-hand column of that Schedule:
At the end of the rule there shall be added the following paragraphs:
4
Where the candidate is a relevant citizen of the Union, he shall not be validly nominated unless, in addition to his consent to nomination, a declaration under paragraph (5) below and a certificate under paragraph (6) below are delivered at the place and within the time for the delivery of nomination papers.
5
The declaration referred to in paragraph (4) above must be made by or on behalf of the candidate and state, in addition to his name:
a
his nationality;
b
his home address in the United Kingdom in full;
c
that he is not standing as a candidate for election to the European Parliament in any other Member State at elections held in the same period; and
d
where his name has been entered in a register of electors in a locality or constituency in the Member State of which he is a national, the name of the locality or constituency where, so far as he knows, his name was last so entered.
6
The certificate referred to in paragraph (4) above must be made by the competent administrative authorities in the Member State of which the candidate is a national stating either that he has not been deprived of his right to stand as a candidate in that State or that no such disqualification is known to those authorities.
7
As soon as practicable after publication of the statement of persons nominated, the returning officer shall send to the Secretary of State a copy of the declaration made under paragraph (5) above by any candidate who stands nominated.
8
In this rule “locality or constituency” and “competent administrative authorities” have the same meaning as they have in the directive of the Council of the European Communities No. 93/109/EC.
5
There shall be inserted the following modification of rule 12 (decisions as to the validity of nomination papers) of the elections rules in Schedule 1 to the Act of 1983, as applied by the left-hand column of Schedule 1 to the European Regulations, before the existing modification in the right-hand column of that Schedule:
In paragraph (1) after the words “consent to it” there shall be inserted “(and, where required, a declaration and certificate under rule 8(5) and (6) above)”.