EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)This Order prescribes the forms of declaration of acceptance of office for members and elected mayors of county and county borough councils and members of community councils in Wales in accordance with section 83 of the Local Government Act 1972. This Order applies whether or not the council has adopted a code of conduct under the Local Government Act 2000.
Article 3 provides that where the mandatory provision of a model code of conduct applicable to a council are adopted or applied to it, the form of declaration of acceptance of office shall be the form prescribed in either Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 to this Order, or a form to the like effect.
Article 4 revokes, on 1 September 2004, four previous orders made under section 83(1) and (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, section 31(7) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, sections 26(3), 27(4) and (5) of the Welsh Language Act 1993, and section 52(2) of the Local Government Act 2000, which included an undertaking to observe the National Code of Local Government Conduct. Part III of the Local Government Act 2000 replaces that Code with codes of conduct made under that Act.
The two Schedules to the Order prescribe the forms of the declaration in English and Welsh which include a statement that those making the declaration undertake to observe their authority's code of conduct.
When a county, county borough council or community council in Wales adopts a code of conduct for the first time as required by section 51 of the Local Government Act 2000, all members and co-opted members of these authorities must in addition to the declaration prescribed in this order, give a written undertaking to their authorities that they will observe the code of conduct.