Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018

4 Request for continuation of existing arrangements

(1) The Secretary of State must make a relevant request to the European Council if neither of conditions 1 and 2 is met at the beginning of the period of 28 days ending with exit day.

(2) Condition 1 is that all of the principal international agreements have been signed.

(3) Condition 2 is that—

(a) one or more of the principal international agreements have not been signed, but

(b) in respect of each agreement that has not been signed, arrangements for the corresponding Euratom arrangements to have effect in relation to the United Kingdom after exit day—

(i) have been made, or

(ii) will, in the Secretary of State’s opinion, have been made before exit day.

(4) A “relevant request” is a request, in relation to each principal international agreement that has not been signed and in respect of which subsection (3)(b) does not apply, for the corresponding Euratom arrangements to continue to have effect in relation to the United Kingdom after exit day until—

(a) the principal international agreement comes into force, or

(b) arrangements have been made for the corresponding Euratom arrangements to have effect in relation to the United Kingdom until further notice.

(5) The “principal international agreements” are—

(a) agreements relating to nuclear safeguards to which only the United Kingdom and the International Atomic Energy Agency are parties;

(b) agreements relating to nuclear safeguards to which the United Kingdom is a party with, respectively, the governments of Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States of America (and for this purpose “agreement” includes an agreement or other arrangement that modifies or supplements an existing agreement).

(6) A reference in this section to “the corresponding Euratom arrangements” is a reference—

(a) in the case of an agreement referred to in subsection (5)(a), to whichever of the Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol corresponds to the agreement;

(b) in the case of an agreement referred to in subsection (5)(b), to whichever of the agreements to which Euratom is a party with the government of Australia, Canada, Japan or the United States of America corresponds to the agreement (and for this purpose the reference to an agreement to which Euratom is a party includes any agreement or other arrangement that modifies or supplements the agreement).

(7) In this section—

• “exit day” has the same meaning as in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (and references to before or after exit day are to be read accordingly);

• “the Safeguards Agreement” and “the Additional Protocol” have the same meaning as in the Nuclear Safeguards Act 2000;

• “signed”, in relation to a principal international agreement, means signed by both parties to the agreement.