Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many of the protocols or joint interpretive instruments annexed to EU treaties to which the UK is party have been the subject of specific parliamentary approval and have legally binding status equivalent to the relevant treaty.

The Protocols and Annexes to the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (as amended) “form an integral part thereof” as set out in Article 51 of the TEU i.e. they have the same legal status as the Treaties.

Joint or unilateral interpretative statements annexed to treaties are relevant to the interpretation of those treaties in accordance with article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and have binding legal force where they are accepted by the parties.

When Parliament approved the UK’s accession to the EU it approved accession to all existing EU Treaties as described in part 1 of Schedule 1 to the European Communities Act 1972. Thereafter, Parliament also approved all subsequent Treaties (including protocols or annexes thereto) amending the TEU or the TFEU as described in the definition of “the Treaties” or “the EU Treaties” set out in section 1(2) of the European Communities Act 1972.