
1 
This Order may be cited as the European Communities (Designation) Order 2000 and shall come into force on 6th April 2000.
2 

(1) For the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, the Ministers or government departments specified in column (1) of the Schedule to this Order are designated in relation to the matters specified in column (2) of that Schedule.
(2) Where more than one Minister or government department is designated by this Order in relation to any matter, any of them may make regulations and, if regulations are made by more than one, they may do so jointly.
(3) Regulations made by a Northern Ireland department in pursuance of this Order, that are not made jointly with a Minister, shall form part of the law of Northern Ireland and not of any other part of the United Kingdom.
A. K. Galloway
Clerk of the Privy Council

SCHEDULE
Article 2


(1) (2)
Ministers or Departments Matters in relation to which Ministers or Departments are designated
The Secretary of State Measures relating to natural gas and oil.
The Secretary of State Measures relating to employment rights and duties.
Any Northern Ireland department All of the preceding matters in this column.
The Secretary of State Measures relating to electronic signatures.
The Lord Chancellor Measures relating to the practice of the profession of lawyer.
The Secretary of State Measures relating to the legal protection of biotechnological inventions.