Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title, collective citations and construction

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2020.

(2) Part 2 shall be included in the collective citation Health Acts 1947 to 2020.

(3) The Employment Permits Acts 2003 to 2014 and Part 5 may be cited together as the Employment Permits Acts 2003 to 2020.

(4) The Customs Acts and Part 11 shall be construed together as one Act.

(5) The Social Welfare Acts and Part 14 shall be construed together as one Act.

(6) The Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Acts 1984 to 2019 and Part 15 may be cited together as the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Acts 1984 to 2020 and shall be construed together as one Act.

(7) The Extradition Acts 1965 to 2019 and Part 16 may be cited together as the Extradition Acts 1965 to 2020.

2. Commencement

2. (1) (a) Part 1 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Foreign Affairs may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions and for the repeal of different enactments or provisions of enactments effected by section 4.

(b) Parts 2 and 3 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Health may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(c) Parts 4, 5 and 15 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(d) Part 6 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(e) Part 7 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(f) Parts 8, 9, 10 and 11 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(g) Parts 12 and 13 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Transport may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(h) Part 14 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Social Protection may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(i) Parts 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Justice may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(j) Part 21 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(k) Part 22 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(2) A power under this section to appoint a day on which a Part (or a provision thereof) shall come into operation, whether generally or otherwise, includes a power to appoint a particular time, on a particular day, at which the Part (or provision thereof) shall come into operation, whether generally or otherwise, and, accordingly, where a time is so appointed, the Part concerned (or provision thereof) shall come into operation at that time, whether generally or otherwise.

3. Expenses

3. The expenses incurred by the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the administration of this Act, and by any other Minister of the Government in the administration of any other Act in so far as that other Act is amended by this Act, shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of monies provided by the Oireachtas.

4. Repeals

4. The following are repealed:

(a) Parts 2 and 4 to 13 of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2019;

(b) the Health and Childcare Support (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2019;

(c) Part 3 of the Family Law Act 2019;

(d) section 12, subsections (2) and (3) of section 13, subsections (2) and (3) of section 15 and sections 23, 36, 58 and 59 of the Finance Act 2019.

PART 2 Arrangements in relation to Health Services

5. Arrangements in relation to health services

5.The Health Act 1970 is amended by the insertion of the following Part after Part IV:

“PART IVA

Arrangements in relation to Health Services

Arrangements in relation to health services

75A. (1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, make such order or orders as he or she considers necessary to carry out any reciprocal or other arrangements made with, or under the proper authority of, the Government of the United Kingdom in respect of health services that will apply between the State and the United Kingdom after the end of the transition period.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), an order under that subsection may specify—

(a) the category or categories of persons to whom the order applies, and

(b) the category or categories of health services to which the order applies.

(3) When making an order under subsection (1), the Minister shall have regard to the following:

(a) the policies and objectives of the Government regarding their shared commitment with the Government of the United Kingdom to the protection of the Common Travel Area and associated reciprocal rights and privileges as a legitimate and fundamental public policy, and recognising healthcare arrangements as a component of this;

(b) the policies and objectives of the Government to reaffirm the Common Travel Area arrangements and the associated reciprocal rights and privileges enjoyed by Irish and British citizens in each other’s state, in particular the right for citizens residing in either state to access emergency, routine and planned publicly funded health services in each other’s state, on the same basis as citizens of that state;

(c) the policies and objectives of the Government regarding their shared commitment with the Government of the United Kingdom that residents of the State and the United Kingdom should enjoy ease of access to healthcare in the other state;

(d) the policies and objectives of the Government to enable arrangements in relation to health services to be implemented between the State and the United Kingdom after the end of the transition period;

(e) the desirability, in the public interest, of maintaining access to health services in the United Kingdom after the end of the transition period, in particular the desirability of maintaining access to medically necessary health services;

(f) the need to ensure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of resources;

(g) the policies and objectives of the Government to protect and improve the health and welfare of the public.

(4) In this section, ‘transition period’ means the transition period provided in Article 126 of the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Agency Community[^3].

Regulations to give full effect to this Part

75B. (1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and having regard to the matters specified in section 75A(3), make regulations for the purposes of giving full effect to this Part and such regulations may, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, provide for all or any of the following:

(a) the arrangements that shall apply with regard to assessing such classes of persons, including persons residing outside the State, as may be specified, in relation to access to health services in the State;

(b) the arrangements that shall apply with regard to assessing, where appropriate (including by reference to such qualifying criteria as may be specified) such classes of persons, as may be specified, in relation to access to planned health services in the United Kingdom;

(c) the arrangements to be administered by the Health Service Executive to ensure access to planned health services in the United Kingdom;

(d) the arrangements to be administered by the Health Service Executive to ensure access to health services in the State by persons from the United Kingdom;

(e) the duties on healthcare providers and healthcare professionals to provide such information as may be prescribed in relation to the health services that they provide to persons from the United Kingdom;

(f) the method by which payments in respect of health services provided in the United Kingdom are to be calculated and the manner in which such payments shall be made by the Health Service Executive to the United Kingdom;

(g) the charging by the Health Service Executive for the provision of health services provided in the State to persons from the United Kingdom and the method in relation to which charges for such health services shall be calculated and levied;

(h) the manner in which payments in respect of charges referred to in paragraph (g) shall be made to the State by individuals and by the United Kingdom;

(i) the method by which payments are to be made by the State in respect of health services provided in the United Kingdom and the manner in which such payments shall be made by the State to the United Kingdom;

(j) the method by which charges are to be levied by the State on the United Kingdom in respect of health services provided by or on behalf of the Health Service Executive in the State and the manner in which payments shall be made by the United Kingdom to the State;

(k) the class or classes of persons in respect of whom payments shall be made by the State or the United Kingdom, including the methodology used to estimate the number of persons concerned;

(l) the category or categories of health services in respect of which payments or provision may be made;

(m) the arrangements that shall apply with regard to payments to be made by the State to the United Kingdom and with regard to payments to be made by the United Kingdom to the State, including the methodology for calculating costs and the levels of reimbursement;

(n) the basis on which the Health Service Executive may reimburse persons in respect of the cost of health services received and paid for by those persons in the United Kingdom;

(o) such forms as may be necessary for the purposes of paragraphs (a) to (n);

(p) such other related, ancillary, transitional or consequential matters as the Minister considers appropriate.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under that subsection may—

(a) apply either generally or to a specified class or classes of persons, and

(b) apply either generally or to a specified class or classes of health services.

(3) A person who contravenes a provision of regulations made under subsection (1) that is declared in the regulations to be a penal provision shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both.

Orders and regulations

75C. Every order and regulation under this Part shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within 21 days on which that House sits after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”.

PART 3 Reimbursement of Medical Expenses

6. Definitions and application (Part 3)

6. (1) In this Part—

“British citizen” means a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

“eligible person” means—

(a) an Irish citizen who is ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland,

(b) a British citizen who is ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland, or

(c) a citizen of a Member State who is ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland,

but does not include a person who is ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland who—

(i) holds, or is entitled to hold, a European Health Insurance Card or an equivalent document issued by a Member State, or

(ii) holds, or is entitled to hold, a document equivalent to the European Health Insurance Card issued by the United Kingdom, or is otherwise entitled to reimbursement by the United Kingdom of medical expenses in respect of necessary medical treatment incurred in a Member State after the end of the transition period (whether in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement or otherwise);

“European Health Insurance Card” means the card issued in the State by the Executive and known as the European Health Insurance Card;

“Executive” means the Health Service Executive;

“medical expenses” means the cost of medical care, and products and services ancillary to that care, that are incurred by an eligible person in respect of necessary medical treatment;

“Member State” means—

(a) a Member State of the European Union, other than the State,

(b) not being such a Member State, a state which is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17 March 1993, and

(c) Switzerland;

“Minister” means the Minister for Health;

“necessary medical treatment” means, in relation to an eligible person, the treatment that becomes medically necessary and which the person would be entitled to receive during a temporary stay in a Member State pursuant to a European Health Insurance Card were he or she the holder of, or entitled to, such card;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations under section 8;

“transition period” means the transition period provided in Article 126 of the Withdrawal Agreement;

“United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man;

“Withdrawal Agreement” means the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Agency Community[^4].

(2) This Part applies to medical expenses incurred on or after the date on which section 7 comes into operation.

7. Reimbursement of expenses incurred by eligible persons in respect of necessary medical treatment

7. (1) Where an eligible person incurs medical expenses in a Member State, in respect of necessary medical treatment, he or she or a person acting on his or her behalf may apply to the Executive for reimbursement of those expenses.

(2) An application under subsection (1) shall be made in the prescribed form and manner.

(3) On receipt of an application under subsection (1), the Executive shall reimburse the eligible person, or the person acting on his or her behalf, in the prescribed form and manner, where it is satisfied that—

(a) the person in respect of whom the application is made is an eligible person,

(b) the treatment in respect of which reimbursement is sought is necessary medical treatment, and

(c) he or she, or a person acting on his or her behalf, has complied with this section and any regulations made under section 8.

(4) When calculating the medical expenses to be reimbursed in accordance with this section, the Executive shall endeavour to ensure that, as far as practicable, it does not assess an application in respect of an eligible person less favourably or more favourably than it would assess an application in respect of a person who is entitled to and holds a European Health Insurance Card.

(5) Where the Executive makes a reimbursement to a person in accordance with this section and it subsequently ascertains that the person was not entitled to that reimbursement, or part of that reimbursement, because—

(a) the person was not an eligible person,

(b) the treatment in respect of which reimbursement was sought was not necessary medical treatment, or

(c) the person, or any person acting on his or her behalf, did not comply with this section or any regulations made under section 8,

the reimbursement, or that part of the reimbursement that the person was not entitled to, shall be recoverable by the Executive in any court of competent jurisdiction as a simple contract debt.

8. Regulations

8. (1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, following consultation with the Executive and having regard to the matters specified in subsection (2), make regulations for the purposes of giving full effect to this Part and such regulations may, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, provide for all or any of the following:

(a) the form and manner in which, and the period during which, an application under section 7 shall be made;

(b) the form and manner in which the Executive shall reimburse an eligible person, or a person acting on his or her behalf, for medical expenses incurred in respect of necessary medical treatment provided in a Member State;