The EEA Regulations
16. The measure of domestic law which implements the Citizens Directive in the United Kingdom is the EEA Regulations. It is instructive to reflect on the question of whether the decision in Surinder Singh survives the advent of the Directive and the Regulations. Since these measures apply only to those who are in the territory of a Member State other than that of their nationality, the decision in Surinder Singh , which focuses on the second element of the matrix viz the return of the Union citizen from the host Member State to the Member State of which the citizen is a national, is of no import. However, the decision would appear to have some continuing impact in the context of the application of the primary Treaty provisions. This issue did not generate any argument before us and is best reserved for consideration in a suitable future case. 17. R egulation 9 of the EEA regulations , which is concerned with the conferral of rights of “ family members ” of British citizens, is couched in terms which resonate strongly with the decision in Surinder Singh , albeit more prescriptively. It provides: “ 9.— Family members of British citizens
(1) If the conditions in paragraph (2) are satisfied, these Regulations apply to a person who is the family member of a British citizen as if the British citizen (“P”) were an EEA national.
(2) The conditions are that—
(a) P is residing in an EEA State as a worker or self-employed person or was so residing before returning to the United Kingdom
;
(b) if the family member of P is P's spouse or civil partner, the parties are living together in the EEA State or had entered into the marriage or civil partnership and were living together in the EEA State before the British citizen returned to the United Kingdom; and
(c) the centre of P's life has transferred to the EEA State where P resided as a worker or self-employed person.
(3) Factors relevant to whether the centre of P's life has transferred to another EEA State include—
(a) the period of residence in the EEA State as a worker or self-employed person;
(b) the location of P's principal residence;
(c) the degree of integration of P in the EEA State
.
(4) Where these Regulations apply to the family member of P, P is to be treated as holding a valid passport issued by an EEA State for the purpose of the application of regulation 13 to that family member. ” “ Family member ” i s defined by Regulation 7. By r egulation 8 there is a free standing category of “ extended family members ”. The mechanisms applicable to qualifying persons under the Regulations are a residence card, a permanent residence card and an EEA family permit. It is instructive to recall the rational e underpinning these provisions. It is expressed i n recital (5) of the Citizens Directive in these terms: “ The right of all Union citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States should, if it is to be exercised under objective conditions of freedom and dignity, be also granted to their family members, irrespective of nationality ….. ” The cornerstone of the regime is the act of migration by the national of a Member State to the territory of another Member State in the exercise of free movement or establishment rights , coupled with subsequent residence there .