Statutory Instruments
2018 No. 622
European Union
The European Communities (Designation) Order 2018
Made
23rd May 2018
Laid before Parliament
30th May 2018
Coming into force
21st June 2018
At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 23rd day of May 2018
Present,
The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council
Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(1) is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order as follows:
Citation and interpretation
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the European Communities (Designation) Order 2018 and comes into force on 21st June 2018.
(2) In this Order—
“designated” means designated for the purposes of section 2(2), and similar expressions are to be construed accordingly;
“Minister or department” means a Minister of the Crown, government department (including a Northern Ireland department) or the Welsh Ministers;
“section 2(2)” means section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972;
“subordinate legislation” means orders, rules, regulations or schemes made under section 2(2).
Designation in relation to the accessibility of public sector bodies’ websites and mobile applications
2.—(1) The Secretary of State and the Minister for the Cabinet Office are designated in relation to the accessibility of public sector bodies’ websites and mobile applications.
(2) In paragraph 1—
“accessibility” means the principles and techniques to be observed when designing, constructing, maintaining and updating websites and mobile applications in order to make them more accessible to users;
“mobile application” means application software designed and developed, by or on behalf of public sector bodies, for use by the general public on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Revocation of existing designations
3.—(1) This Order does not restrict the scope of any designation made by any other Order.
(2) Where—
(a)a Minister or department is designated by this Order, and
(b)any other Minister or department is designated in relation to the same matter by this or any other Order,
any of them may make subordinate legislation in relation to that matter jointly.
Ceri King
Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, only “designated” Ministers and departments can exercise powers in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (c.68) to make orders, rules, regulations and schemes. This is one of a series of Orders by which the Ministers and departments are designated for the purposes of section 2(2) in relation to different subject areas.
Article 2 designates the Secretary of State and the Minister for the Cabinet Office in relation to the accessibility of public sector bodies’ websites and mobile applications.
Article 3 provides that this Order does not restrict the scope of designation in other Orders and allows Ministers and departments designated in relation to the same matters to legislate jointly as well as individually.
A full Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.
1972 c.68; section 2(2) was amended by section 27(1)(a) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c.51) and by the Schedule to the European Union (Amendment ) Act 2008 (c.7).