Interpretation
2.—(1) the context otherwise requires, in these Regulations—
“1983 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1983(1);
“1985 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1985(2);
“1986 (Scotland) Regulations” means the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 1986(3);
“2000 Act” means the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000(4);
“2001 Franchise Regulations” means the European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001(5);
“2001 Regulations” means the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001(6);
“2001 (Scotland) Regulations” means the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001(7);
“2002 Act” means the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002;
“2003 Act” means the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003;
“the absent voters list” means, in relation to any election, the list kept under paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to these Regulations;
“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;
“the Act annexed to Council Decision 76/787” is the Act concerning the election of MEPs annexed to Council Decision 76/787/ECSC, EEC, Euratom of 20th September 1976(8);
“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;
“citizen of the Union” shall be construed in accordance with Article 17.1 of the Treaty establishing the European Community(9), and “relevant citizen of the Union” means such a citizen who is not a Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland;
“the City” means the City of London;
“Combination of Polls Regulations” means the Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) Regulations 2004(10);
“Common Council” means the Common Council of the City;
“dwelling” includes any part of a building where that part is occupied separately as a dwelling;
“election” means a European Parliamentary election;
“elector” in relation to an election, means any person whose name is for the time being on the register of electors, but does not include those shown in the register as below voting age on the day fixed for the poll;
“European Parliamentary elections rules” means the rules in Schedule 1 to these Regulations;
“European Parliamentary election petition” means a petition presented in pursuance of Part 4 of these Regulations;
“European Parliamentary overseas elector” means a person falling within section 8(4) of the 2002 Act;
“European Parliamentary overseas elector’s declaration” means a declaration made in pursuance of regulations made under section 3 of the 1985 Act(11);
“Gibraltar elector” in relation to an election, means any person whose name is for the time being on the Gibraltar register, but does not include those shown in the register as below voting age on the day fixed for the poll;
“legal incapacity” includes (in addition to any incapacity by virtue of any subsisting provision of the common law) any disqualification imposed by these Regulations or by any Act;
“legal process” means a claim form, application, notice, writ, summons or other process;
“list” means a list of candidates submitted by a registered party to accompany its nomination for election;
“local counting area” means any of the following—
a parliamentary constituency wholly or partly comprised in an electoral region in England, or in Wales or Scotland, or
Gibraltar;
“the list of proxies” has, in relation to any election, the meaning given by paragraph 3(4)(c) of Schedule 2 to these Regulations;
“mayoral election” means an election conducted under the Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2002(12);
“national election agent” means the person appointed under regulation 33;
“nominating officer” means the person registered under the 2000 Act as the officer with responsibility for the matters referred to in section 24(3) of that Act in respect of a registered party;
“overseas elector” means a person falling within subsection (2) of section 8 of the 2002 Act by virtue of paragraph (b) of that subsection or, in Gibraltar, a person falling within section 16(2) of the 2003 Act;
“overseas elector’s declaration” has the meaning given by section 2 of the 1985 Act or, in relation to Gibraltar, paragraph 15 of Schedule 4;
“person” includes (without prejudice to the provisions of the Interpretation Act 1978(13)) an association corporate or unincorporate;
“proper officer” in England and Wales means a proper officer within the meaning of section 270(3) and (4) of the Local Government Act 1972(14), or in Scotland section 235(5) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973(15);
“referendum” means a referendum conducted under the Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) Regulations 2001(16);
“register of electors” means any part of—
a register of parliamentary or, in the case of peers, local government electors,
a register under section 3 of the 1985 Act,
a register under regulation 5 of the 2001 Franchise Regulations, and
the Gibraltar register(17),
in force within an electoral region at the time of a European Parliamentary election in that region;
“registered party” means a party registered under Part 2 of the 2000 Act;
“registration officer” means an officer appointed under section 8 of the 1983 Act(18) or, in relation to Gibraltar, the clerk of the House of Assembly of Gibraltar(19);
“service voter” means a person who has made a service declaration and is registered or entitled to be registered in pursuance of it;
“sub-agent” has the meaning given by regulation 35(1) in relation to registered parties under Part 2 of the 2000 Act or regulation 39(1) in relation to individual candidates;
“Treaty of Athens” means the Treaty signed at Athens on 16th April 2003(20) 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;
“universal postal service provider” means a universal service provider (within the meaning of the Postal Services Act 2000(21); and
“voter” means a person voting at an election and includes a person voting as proxy and, except in the European Parliamentary elections rules, a person voting by proxy, and “vote” (whether noun or verb) shall be construed accordingly, except that in those rules any reference to an elector voting or an elector’s vote shall include a reference to an elector voting by proxy or an elector’s vote given by proxy.
(2) Part 1 of these Regulations shall (subject to any express provision contained in it) apply to the City as if the City were a London Borough and the Common Council were a London borough council.
For the purposes of this paragraph the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple shall be treated as forming part of the City.
(3) The modifications made by paragraph (2) do not affect regulation 19(3).
S.I. 1986/1111 (S. 93), to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.
2000 c. 41; which was amended by S.I. 2004/366.
S.I. 2001/1184, which was amended by S.I. 2003/1557. Other amendments are not relevant to these Regulations.
S.I. 2001/341, which was amended by 2002/881 and S.I. 2001/1700. Other amendments are not relevant to these Regulations.
S.I. 2001/497 (S. 2), which was amended by S.I. 2002/881 and S.I. 2001/1749(S. 11). Other amendments are not relevant to these Regulations.
O. J. L 278, 08.10.1976, p. 21 (Cmnd. 6623).
The reference to the Treaty is to it as renumbered in accordance with the Treaty of Amsterdam (Cmnd. 3780).
S.I. 2004/294.
Section 3 was amended by Schedule 2 to the Representation of the People Act 2000 (c. 2).
See section 14(1) of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 (c. 7).
Section 8 was amended by Schedules 16 and 18 to the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) and Schedule 13 to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994 (c. 39).
See section 14(2) of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 (c. 7).
O.J. L 236, 23.09.2003.