The Channel Tunnel (International Arrangements) (Amendment No. 4) Order 2001

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends provisions of the Channel Tunnel (International Arrangements) Order 1993 (“the principal Order”) which give effect to material provisions of the Additional Protocol mentioned in article 2(4) of the principal Order. The Additional Protocol supplements the system of juxtaposed frontier controls set up under the Protocol mentioned in article 1 of the principal Order (“the Sangatte Protocol”). Under the Additional Protocol, supplementary control zones are accorded to France in the United Kingdom, and to the United Kingdom in France, for the purposes of the carrying out, respectively, of French and United Kingdom immigration controls. Those supplementary control zones are additional to the control zones accorded for the purpose of carrying out frontier controls under the Sangatte Protocol. The provisions of the principal Order which give effect to the Additional Protocol were inserted by the Channel Tunnel (International Arrangements) (Amendment No. 3) Order 2001 (S.I. 2001/1544), which came into force on 25th May 2001. The amendments made by the present Order clarify or supplement certain of those provisions.

Article 3 clarifies the duty of the occupier or manager of a terminal control point for international services through the Channel Tunnel to provide the necessary facilities for the exercise of functions by French officers in the United Kingdom. In particular, it makes clear that for the purposes of both the Sangatte Protocol and the Additional Protocol such facilities are to be provided free of charge.

Article 4 extends the Race Relations Act 1976 (c. 74) to the exercise of functions by immigration officers in a control zone or supplementary control zone outside the United Kingdom.

Article 5 amends the definition of “supplementary control zone” in order to make it clear that the extent of such a zone is determined by mutual agreement between the two Governments.

Article 6 extends the power to require a person who has been examined in a supplementary control zone to submit to a further examination, by permitting that further examination to take place before as well as after his arrival in the United Kingdom.

Article 7 clarifies the application of regulations 12, 21 and 22 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2326), in the case of persons who seek to exercise a right to be admitted to the United Kingdom in a control zone or a supplementary control zone.