Common Market and Greenwich Area Act 2017

Common Market and Greenwich Area Act 2017
Esquarian Community
Citation	EC/2017/01
Enacted by	Council of Esquarium
Date enacted	1 January 2017
Enacted by	Esquarian Parliament
Date enacted	11 January 2017
Date commenced	11 January 2017
Related legislation
Comprehensive Common Market Act 2017 Labour and Residency Act 2017
Status: Amended

The Common Market and Greenwich Area Act 2017 is an Esquarian law that integrates the Greenwich Area of the defunct Esquarian Union into the Esquarian Community. It was amended by the Comprehensive Common Market Act 2017.

Background

The Esquarian Union included a free trade area known as the Greenwich Area which had policies and goals similar to that of the Esquarian Common Market of the Esquarian Community.

At the 2016 Esquarian Summit in October, it was agreed that the EC would work to integrate the soon to be defunct Greenwich Area into the Common Market. The government of Luziyca, a founder of the Union and now a Member State of the Community, introduced legislation in the Council of Esquarium to allow states which had been included in the Greenwich Area to participate in the Common Market without attaining full Community membership.

Provisions

According to the Act, states which were included in the Greenwich Area on 11 March 2016 (the date when the EU announced its dissolution) are able to participate in the Esquarian Common Market without needing to apply for Member State status. They are, however, required to ratify the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights and harmonize their regulations in the areas of workers' rights, labor rights, and the environment with Esquarian law.

Text

Common Market and Greenwich Area Act 2017

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Preamble
Whereas the Esquarian Community was party to the Third Esquarian Summit held in October 2016,
Whereas the Xiangmen Declaration was adopted as the final act of the Third Esquarian Summit,
Whereas the Xiangmen Declaration's section on trade includes a clause supporting "the greater integration of the Greenwich Area members into the EC Common Market,"
Therefore, the Esquarian Community enacts the following:

Integration of the Greenwich Area
1. The Esquarian Community shall take over the responsibility of managing the Greenwich Area from the Esquarian Union.

2. The Esquarian Community shall implement the following policies:

a. The right to travel to and from any EC member state without border control checks if one is a citizen of the EC member state

b. The right to reside in any EC member state if one is an EC citizen

i. After six months of residence, any EC citizen who is living in an EC member state outside the one where he or she has citizenship shall be allowed to vote for municipal representatives of their place of residence, in addition to members of the Esquarian Parliament from the constituency where they reside

ii. Each member state can decide whether to permit EC citizens to vote in other national elections

c. The right to work in any EC member state if one is a citizen of an EC member state

3. Member states are obliged to strengthen border control with any non-EC member state, with the exception of:

a. Any nation which was a member of the Greenwich Area on 11 March 2016 shall be permitted to continue their participation within the EC Common Market without having to join the EC

i. If an EC citizen moves to a non-EC member state that participates in the Common Market, it is up to the participating state to decide whether said citizen may vote in national elections or not

b. Existing free-travel agreements between EC member states and non-EC member states will remain in force, with the following caveats:

i. Only citizens of the states participating in these existing agreements can travel freely to each other

ii. EC citizens who are not citizens of the EC member states that participate in these free travel areas will be required to follow the appropriate border control procedures

iii. Citizens of the non-EC member state(s) participating in these free-travel arrangements cannot travel to other EC member states unless they have acquired a visa

4. Notes that in the case of serious crises, border controls may be imposed on EC citizens travelling to a specific EC member state for a maximum period of 180 days

a. Once the 180 days have elapsed, border controls must be lifted unless the EC member state can prove that the very survival of the country is at stake if border controls are lifted

b. If the request is granted, border controls may continue for a maximum period of eighteen months, after which border controls are to be lifted, unless the internal situation in the EC member state poses a threat to other EC member states

c. If in the event that open borders between an EC member and the rest of the EC threaten the very stability of the Esquarian Community, the EC can impose border controls on the affected nations for a period of up to ten years, before it can be renewed

i. The Council of Esquarium must have two-thirds of its members approve said proposal

ii. If the legislation passes the Council of Esquarium above the threshold needed, two-thirds of all members of the Esquarian Parliament must approve the resolution to implement border controls

iii. The state has the right to appeal to the Esquarian Court of Justice if they feel that said border intrusions are unjustified: the opinion of the Court of Justice shall be binding

Application
5. All members of the Greenwich Area must implement the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights and all of its protections should they desire to benefit from the Common Market

a. The first and second optional protocols shall remain optional, and states that do not accede to these protocols may still benefit from the Common Market if they adopt the charter itself

6. All members of the Greenwich Area must, as soon as possible, harmonize their regulations concerning workers' rights, labor rights, and environmental rights to fit EC law, to prevent them from obtaining an unfair advantage over existing EC members

a. States which fail to harmonize these regulations with EC law shall not be permitted to benefit from the Common Market of the Esquarian Community

b. If EC law regarding these areas changes, all non-EC members of the Common Market must implement these changes as soon as the changes take effect