Citation and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local and European Parliamentary Elections (Registration of Citizens of Accession States) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 9th July 2003.
(2) In these Regulations—
“the 1983 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1983(1), and expressions defined in the 1983 Act shall have the same meaning in these Regulations;
“the 1989 Act” means the Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989(2), and expressions defined in the 1989 Act shall have the same meaning in these Regulations;
“the 2001 Franchise Regulations” means the European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001(3);
“Accession State” means any of the following states—
the Czech Republic,
the Republic of Estonia,
the Republic of Cyprus,
the Republic of Latvia,
the Republic of Lithuania,
the Republic of Hungary,
the Republic of Malta,
the Republic of Poland,
the Republic of Slovenia, or
the Slovak Republic;
“citizen of an Accession State” means a national of one of the Accession States and “relevant citizen of an Accession State” means such a citizen who is not a Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland; and
“Treaty of Athens” means the Treaty signed at Athens on 16th April 2003 concerning the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union.