Commentary on Sections Part 1: the Electoral Commission Section 1: Compliance with controls imposed by the 2000 Act etc
10.Subsections (1) and (2) of section 1 amend section 145 of the 2000 Act to provide that, in addition to its existing function of monitoring compliance with various requirements (relating to registered party accounting, political donations, campaign and election expenditure, and referendums), the Commission shall have the function of taking such steps as they consider appropriate to secure compliance with those requirements. The purpose of this provision is to clarify that the Commission are required to both monitor and regulate compliance. Subsection (3) allows the Commission to publish guidance as to what conduct they consider to be necessary or sufficient in order to comply with the legislative requirements, and what conduct they consider to be desirable (that is, best practice) in view of the purpose of those requirements.