Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2009.

(2) These Regulations shall come into force on the day after the day on which they are made.

(3) These Regulations extend to England, Wales, Scotland and Gibraltar.

Amendments to the European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004

2.—(1) The European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004(5) are amended as follows.

(2) In Schedule 1 (European Parliamentary elections rules)(6), rule 53(3) (the count), for “them” substitute “the numbers or other unique identifying marks printed on the back of the papers”.

(3) In Schedule 2 (absent voting)(7)—

(a)in paragraph 36(7) (requiring personal identifiers from existing absent voters), for “an elections” substitute “an election”;

(b)in paragraph 39(1)(a) (consequences of failure or refusal to provide personal identifiers), for “voting records” substitute “absent voting records”;

(c)in paragraph 54(10) (lost postal ballot papers), for “regulation 52” substitute “paragraph 52”; and

(d)in paragraph 70(1) (forwarding of documents), for “those rules” substitute “the European Parliamentary elections rules”.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations correct errors in the European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/293) (“the 2004 Regulations”) which were introduced in amendments made to those regulations by the European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/186) (“the 2009 Regulations”). Regulation 2(2) amends rule 53(3) of the European Parliamentary elections rules contained in Schedule 1 to the 2004 Regulations (as substituted by the 2009 Regulations) to provide that, while counting the votes, a local returning officer must take all proper precautions for preventing any person from seeing the numbers or other unique identifying marks printed on the back of the ballot papers.

The amendments in regulation 2(3) rectify minor errors in Schedule 2 to the 2004 Regulations (as substituted by the 2009 Regulations).

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.