Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Order)
Under section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as substituted by Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 2000) each registration officer is required to conduct an annual canvass (by reference to residence on 15th October in that year) in his registration area to ascertain the persons who are entitled to be or remain registered as parliamentary or local government electors in that area. These Regulations specify a revised form for the purposes of that canvass, which takes account of the fact that ten new States acceded to the European Union in 2004 and makes provision for their citizens residing in a registration area to be included in the register of local government electors for that area with citizens of the other European Union countries.
In addition, Regulation 4 and Part II of the Schedule to the Regulations prescribe a new form of words for use as part of the application for registration form provided by registration officers. The Regulations revoke the provisions of the Representation of the People (Form of Canvass)(England and Wales) Regulations 2003, which had previously prescribed the form of canvass and the form of words to be included with the canvass form about the two versions of the register.