3(1)Paragraphs 4A (postponement of transfer to Royal Fleet Reserve or discharge) and 4B (continuation of service in Royal Marines in imminent national danger) of Schedule 7 to the Army Act 1955 (provisions as to Royal Marines) shall be amended as follows.U.K.
(2)For sub-paragraphs (1) to (4) of paragraph 4A there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraphs—
“(1)This paragraph applies to a marine serving in the Royal Marines if, on the relevant date, a call-out order under section 52, 54 or 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 is in force authorising the call out for permanent service of members of the Royal Fleet Reserve.
For the purposes of this paragraph, “the relevant date”, in relation to a marine, means the date on which he would, apart from this paragraph, fall to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve or he would be entitled to be discharged, as the case may be.
(1A)A marine to whom this paragraph applies may be retained in service in the Royal Marines after the relevant date in accordance with this paragraph for such period as the competent authority may order, and his service may be prolonged accordingly.
(1B)The period for which a marine may be retained in service after the relevant date by virtue of this paragraph shall be limited as follows, that is to say—
(a)a marine who would otherwise have fallen to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve may not be retained for longer than the period for which, if the assumptions mentioned in sub-paragraph (1C) below are made in relation to him, he could have been required to serve on being called out under Part VI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996; or
(b)a marine who would otherwise have been discharged may not be retained for longer than twelve months;
and a marine who is retained in service is (if not transferred or discharged sooner) entitled to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve or discharged, as the case may require, at the end of whichever of the above periods applies to him.
(1C)The assumptions to be made in relation to a marine for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1B)(a) above are that—
(a)he was transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve in time to be called out for permanent service starting on the relevant date; and
(b)he was so called out on the authority of the call-out order which justified his retention in service.”
(3)After sub-paragraph (6) of paragraph 4A there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—
“(6A)Where a marine is retained in service by virtue of this paragraph but would otherwise have fallen to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve—
(a)any period for which he is liable to serve in the Royal Fleet Reserve after the completion of his service in the Royal Marines shall be reduced by the period for which he is so retained; and
(b)the period for which he is so retained shall be treated as a period of relevant service for the purposes of any provision of Part IV, V, VI or VII of the Reserve Forces Act 1996.”
(4)Sub-paragraph (8) of paragraph 4A shall cease to have effect.
(5)In sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 4B, for the words from “men” to the end there shall be substituted the words “ a call-out order under section 52 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 authorising the call out of members of the Royal Fleet Reserve is in force ”.