Part 3: Further Provisions Transfer of IMA’s functions and abolition
Paragraph 39(1) provides a power for the Secretary of State to make regulations to transfer the functions of the IMA to another public authority, and make modifications to that authority that the Secretary of State considers appropriate to ensure they possess appropriate functions, funding and constitutional arrangements. ‘Constitutional arrangements’ has the same meaning as that in section 3(2) of the Public Bodies Act 2011. This will allow the Secretary of State to ensure that the transferee possesses the functions required by Article 159 of the Withdrawal Agreement, as well as having the resources and constitutional design necessary to fulfil this role.
	Sub-paragraph (2) ensures that the Secretary of State can only use the power under sub-paragraph (1) if they are satisfied that the transfer of the IMA’s functions to another public authority would improve the exercise of those functions, having regard to efficiency, effectiveness and economy.
	Sub-paragraph (3) requires the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to ensure that any public authority to which the IMA’s functions are transferred under sub-paragraph (1) has operational independence and the ability to make impartial assessments when exercising the transferred functions, as well as appropriate funding to do so
	Sub-paragraph (4) prevents the power under sub-paragraph (1) from being used to transfer the IMA’s functions in respect of Gibraltar under paragraph 33. Consequently, the Gibraltar legislature will need to confer the IMA’s functions on the public authority to which they have been transferred under sub-paragraph (1), if these functions are to continue to have effect in Gibraltar.
	Sub-paragraph (5)(a) provides for the Secretary of State to transfer the IMA’s property, rights and liabilities, including those in respect of contracts of employment, under sub-paragraph (1). sub-paragraph (5)(b) provides for the Secretary of State to abolish the IMA under sub-paragraph (1), once this power has been exercised and the IMA’s functions have been transferred to a different public authority.
	Sub-paragraph (6) places a duty on the Secretary of State to consult the Scottish Minister, the Welsh Ministers, the Executive Office in Northern Ireland, and the Gibraltar Ministers if the IMA has functions in relation to Gibraltar by virtue of paragraph 33.
	Sub-paragraph (7) enables regulations made under sub-paragraph (1) to modify any provision made by or under an enactment, including this Act.
	Sub-paragraph (8) states that ‘constitutional arrangements’ as used in sub-paragraph (1) has the same meaning as that in section 3(2) of the Public Bodies Act 2011.
	Paragraph 40(1) provides a power for the Secretary of State to make regulations to either modify the functions of the IMA, or abolish the IMA, if it appears, or having regard to the Withdrawal Agreement and the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement and the relevant provisions of such agreements that concern the ending of the IMA’s functions, that it is no longer necessary for the IMA to exercise functions in relation to Part 2 of the Withdrawal Agreement. This is to reflect the respective Joint Committees’ power under the agreements to decide that the IMA’s functions are no longer required.
	The Secretary of State may also make regulations for the IMA to cease to exist where, having regard to the Withdrawal Agreement and EEA EFTA Separation Agreement, it is no longer needed. As set out in Article 159 of the Withdrawal Agreement and Article 64 of the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement, the joint committees may decide to bring the IMA to an end from eight years after the end of the implementation period.
	Sub-paragraph (2) enables regulations made under sub-paragraph (1) to modify any provision made by or under an enactment, including this Act.