According to the statutory instrument made on 13 May 2026 and laid before Parliament on 14 May 2026, the government will revoke three EU-derived orders dealing with the privileges and immunities of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) and the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC). The change will not take effect until 31 March 2027, giving departments time to move the legal basis for those arrangements away from retained EU law. The regulations were made by the Secretary of State under section 14(1) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, with Seema Malhotra signing as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The instrument extends across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Regulation 2 revokes the European Communities (Immunities and Privileges of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization) Order 1985, the 2001 Order that amended it, and the European Communities (Immunities and Privileges of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission) Order 1999. As the Explanatory Note records, those earlier instruments give privileges and immunities to the two organisations, to representatives of their member states, and to officers or officials acting in connection with their work. In practical terms, these orders have been the domestic legal route by which the UK has given effect to headquarters arrangements negotiated with each body. The NASCO provisions rest on the headquarters agreement with the UK government and a later exchange of notes amending that agreement. The NEAFC provisions rest on its own headquarters agreement with the UK.
The important point for readers is that this is a change in legal basis rather than a declared withdrawal of status from either organisation. The Explanatory Note says the 2026 regulations use the 2023 Act power to revoke secondary assimilated EU law without replacement within the same instrument, but that replacement instruments are intended to be made under the International Organisations Act 1968 before the revocation date. That drafting choice matters. It means ministers are removing an EU-derived statutory route while signalling that the substantive privileges and immunities are expected to continue under a different domestic power. On the government's account, the delayed commencement is there to avoid any break in protection for the organisations, their member representatives and their staff.
The long lead-in to 31 March 2027 is therefore not incidental. It gives the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and parliamentary counsel time to prepare successor instruments, lay them before Parliament and bring them into force before the older orders fall away. The heading on the instrument also states that sift requirements were satisfied on 28 April 2026. In plain terms, that means the parliamentary screening process required by Schedule 5 to the 2023 Act was completed before the regulations were made. For policy watchers, that is a reminder that revocation under the retained EU law reform programme is still subject to procedural checks even where the policy effect is described as continuity.
For NASCO and NEAFC themselves, the stated policy effect is stability rather than reform. The organisations' UK position is not presented as being narrowed, and the Explanatory Note is explicit that continuity is the purpose of the commencement timetable. That will matter to officials, delegates and member-state representatives who rely on these protections when carrying out formal functions in the United Kingdom. For Parliament, the instrument is also an example of how post-Brexit statute book revision is being handled in specialist areas that rarely attract public attention. Rather than leaving older European Communities Act-era instruments in place indefinitely, departments are recasting them under domestic legislation that better matches the UK's current constitutional settlement.
The government does not expect a material economic or administrative effect from this step. The Explanatory Note says no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. That suggests officials view the measure as legal maintenance rather than a policy shift with operational costs. Even so, the absence of a formal impact assessment does not make the replacement exercise trivial. Any change to the legal basis of privileges and immunities has to be drafted with care, because errors in commencement, scope or category of protected person could create uncertainty for international bodies operating from the UK.
The next document to watch is the replacement legislation promised under the International Organisations Act 1968, together with the Explanatory Memorandum published alongside this revocation instrument. Those texts will show whether the successor drafting reproduces the current coverage in full or makes any technical adjustments as the UK completes this part of the retained EU law reform programme. For now, the immediate message from the legislation is narrow but clear. The 2026 regulations start the repeal of three EU-based fisheries immunities orders, but the government's stated plan is continuity first and revocation second, with the switch scheduled for 31 March 2027.