Written evidence submitted by the Isle of Man Government (TTC 45)

1.        The Isle of Man is a Dependency of the British Crown (“known as a Crown Dependency”), with His Majesty the King as Sovereign. The Sovereign appoints a Lieutenant Governor to be his personal representative in the Island. The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom and it never has been. It is an internally autonomous and self-governing, mature and responsible, democratic jurisdiction with its own separate legal, administrative and fiscal systems. The Isle of Man takes compliance with the international standards and obligations that apply to it very seriously.

2.        The Island’s parliament, Tynwald, legislates for the Island with primary legislation (“Acts of Tynwald”) requiring Royal Assent. In the majority of cases, since 1981, the granting of Royal Assent is delegated to the Isle of Man’s Lieutenant Governor, with only a very limited number of cases being reserved to His Majesty.

3.        The United Kingdom is responsible for the Island’s defence and international representation. It is the long-established and accepted constitutional practice that UK legislation and international treaties are only extended to the Island with the prior consent of the Isle of Man Government.

4.        The Isle of Man’s relationship, as a Crown Dependency, with the UK is quite different to the UK’s relationship with the British Overseas Territories (OTs).

5.        The Isle of Man Government has, from time to time, chosen to engage with certain inquiries initiated by House of Commons Committees; for example, with the Justice Committee as it has scrutinised the Ministry of Justice’s effectiveness in supporting the relationship between the UK and Isle of Man. However, this engagement has been voluntary and on a case-by-case basis. Since the Isle of Man has and is proud of having its own ancient parliament, the Isle of Man Government would not wish there to be a more formal relationship with the House of Commons or its Committees as it would not be appropriate for the Isle of Man to be formally represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

6.        The Isle of Man may, on occasion, request or agree to the extension of certain UK legislation to the Island. This can happen in two ways.

7.        The first way, which happens rarely, is for the Act of Parliament to include a provision that specifies that it, or certain sections of it, extend directly to the Island. The most recent example of this is the Illegal Migration Act 2023, where provisions concerning British citizenship extend directly to the Isle of Man, along with the Channel Islands and OTs. In this case the UK advised that the legislation governing British citizenship must be the same across the UK, Crown Dependencies and OTs. The British Nationality Act 1981 also extends directly to the Island.

8.        The second way is for an Act of the UK Parliament to include a permissive extent provision (or “permissive extent clause” or PEC), such as:

“His Majesty may by Order in Council provide for any of the provisions of this Act to extend, with or without modifications, to any of the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.”

9.        The latest example of this is also in the Illegal Migration Act 2023, where the remaining provisions of the Act dealing with immigration and related matters can be extended to the Island by Order in Council, in line with other UK Acts that deal with immigration matters.

10.    The inclusion of a PEC in an Act of Parliament is approved by the Isle of Man. This may be at the request of the Isle of Man Government, or at the suggestion of the UK Government. The PEC does not itself extend any part of that Act to the Isle of Man.

11.    The PEC only provides for the possibility for the Act to be extended to the Island, because, where an Act of Parliament does not include a PEC, the only way that the Act can be extended to Isle of Man would be through further primary legislation.

12.    After an Act of Parliament that includes a PEC has received Royal Assent, the Isle of Man Government might ask for the PEC to be used or the UK Government might seek the formal agreement of the Isle of Man Government to extend provisions of the Act to the Island. Although it is not a statutory requirement, the long-established constitutional practice is that further approval by the Isle of Man Government must be given before the Order in Council is made by the Privy Council in the UK.

13.    Isle of Man primary legislation is preferable and is generally the first option to be considered, but extension of UK legislation to the Island can be useful in certain circumstances. For example, the fact that the Registered Design Rights Act 1949, Patents Act 1977 and Trade Marks Act 1994 extend to the Isle of Man means that Island residents can apply to the UK Intellectual Property Office for registered intellectual property rights in the same way as UK residents, with any granted patent, etc. covering both the UK and IOM. Another example is where UK legislation is extended on an interim basis until Manx legislation can be enacted – this has recently been the case for the implementation of some international sanctions measures until the Island’s Sanctions Bill has been passed and brought into operation.

November 2023