Trade Act 2021

5 Interpretation of Part 1

(1) In this Part—

• “appropriate authority” means—

  (a)

  a Minister of the Crown, or

  (b)

  a devolved authority;

• “devolved authority” means—

  (a)

  the Scottish Ministers,

  (b)

  the Welsh Ministers, or

  (c)

  a Northern Ireland department;

• “free trade agreement” means an agreement that is or was notifiable under—

  (a)

  paragraph 7(a) of Article XXIV of GATT, or

  (b)

  paragraph 7(a) of Article V of GATS;

• “GATS” means the General Agreement on Trade in Services, part of Annex 1B to the WTO Agreement (as modified from time to time);

• “GATT” means the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, part of Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement (as modified from time to time);

• “primary legislation” means—

  (a)

  an Act of Parliament,

  (b)

  an Act of the Scottish Parliament,

  (c)

  a Measure or Act of Senedd Cymru, or

  (d)

  Northern Ireland legislation;

• “subordinate legislation” has the meaning given in section 20(1) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018;

• “the WTO Agreement” means the agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation signed at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994.

(2) In this Part a reference to being a signatory to an international trade agreement includes a reference to—

(a) exchanging instruments, where the exchange constitutes the agreement;

(b) acceding to the agreement.

(3) In this Part a reference to a draft of regulations being laid is a reference to a draft of the regulations, or a draft of the instrument containing the regulations, being laid before—

(a) each House of Parliament, in the case of regulations to which paragraph 4(1) or 5 of Schedule 2 applies;

(b) the Scottish Parliament, in the case of regulations to which paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 2 applies;

(c) Senedd Cymru, in the case of regulations to which paragraph 4(3) of Schedule 2 applies;

(d) the Northern Ireland Assembly, in the case of regulations to which paragraph 4(4) of Schedule 2 applies.

(4) References in this Part to anything which is retained EU law by virtue of section 4 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 include references to any modifications, made by or under that Act or by other domestic law from time to time, of the rights, powers, liabilities, obligations, restrictions, remedies or procedures concerned.

(5) In this section, “domestic law” means the law of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.