Commentary on provisions of Act Section 4: Request for continuation of existing agreements
Section 4 requires the Secretary of State to make a relevant request (as defined in subsection (4)) to the European Council if neither of two conditions is met at the beginning of the period of 28 days ending with exit day (as defined in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
	Subsection (2) sets out the first condition (Condition 1), namely that all of the principal international agreements (as defined in subsection 5) have been signed. This includes bilateral agreements with the IAEA that relate to nuclear safeguards, as well as agreements relating to nuclear safeguards between the UK and, respectively, the governments of Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States of America.
	Subsection (3) sets out the second condition (Condition 2), namely that for any principal international agreements that have not been signed, arrangements for the corresponding Euratom arrangements (as defined in subsection (6)) to continue to have effect in relation to the UK have been made or will be made before exit day.
	Subsection (4) sets out the detail of the relevant request to the European Council which the Secretary of State is required to make if neither of Conditions 1 and 2 is met. Specifically, the request is, in respect of any principal international agreements for which Conditions 1 and 2 are not satisfied, for the corresponding Euratom arrangements to continue to have effect in relation to the UK after exit day until one of the conditions specified in subsection (4) is satisfied.
	Subsection (7) defines the meaning of "exit day" (as used in subsection (1)), "the Safeguards Agreement" and "the Additional Protocol" (as used in subsection (6)), and "signed" (as used in subsection (2)).