UK proposed review and revocation of EU-origin laws

Chemicals Coffee Time, 26th September 2022 – Very important legal news for the UK

Steve Marks of Airedale Chemical writes: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-retained-eu…

Just an FYI really. Not sure if you get the Brexit related mailshots from GOV.UK. The below one came in this morning. It’ll be interesting to see if they amend/revoke any of the EU chemical legislation that was brought across with the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-retained-eu…

A great spot from Steve, thank you! This has the potential to really bring about changes in retained EU laws like REACH and CLP, from the UK side. As we’ve seen this week with the proposed new CLP hazard classes, the EU is moving ever more rapidly away from the status quo we had at Brexit, so I think divergence is here to stay. What this will potentially do is open up the UK to stop shadowing EU law, and revisit laws in detail.

The problem is that nobody really knows quite how this is all going to work. There was an energetic discussion on LinkedIn on this topic over the weekend, started by Richard Bishop of TSG Consulting, see https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richardwilliambisho… .

There are differing views on what is within scope of this review, i.e. does it cover all of the EU directly-acting regulations, like REACH and CLP, or will it include all of the UK laws based on EU/ EEC directives as well?

And does it really switch off all existing EU-derived legislation? Richard Bishop mentions “Worryingly the Bill does seem to have the effect of switching off all domestic law of EU origin. If so, this would remove some very long standing laws, unless a specific decision is made to keep them. At least, that’s how the gov.uk website explains it: “The Bill will sunset the majority of retained EU law so that it expires on 31st December 2023. All retained EU law contained in domestic secondary legislation and retained direct EU legislation will expire on this date, unless otherwise preserved.” The retained EU law dashboard contains the details of what laws are regarded as in scope“.

In any case, is the timeline to get everything sorted out by 31st December 2023 in any way realistic? It’s like packing nearly 50 years of legislation into a single year!

A real “watch this space” moment, and thanks again to Steve and others for bringing it to our attention.

Chemicals Coffee Time, 28th October 2022 – Breaking news – the UK’s proposed “Retained EU Legislation” bill may be put back

Alison writes: Rumour has it that the government (well… this week’s government) is looking to push the Retained EU legislation bill back to 2026.

They’ve issued a call for evidence to see if it’s achievable: https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2022/octob…

And there’s a dashboard to track Retained laws: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/governmentr…

Guess which department is most affected by this? Yes, DEFRA – who’re responsible for most of the laws we’re currently having trouble with.

Chemicals Coffee Time, 25th November 2022 – Update – UK’s “Bonfire of EU Regulations”

Alison writes:   OK, so the government had the Regulatory Policy Committee (independently operated by BEIS) look at the EU retained law bill (Jacob Rees Mogg thing). They just published their report on it. And it is hilarious.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118976/RPC-CO-5223_1_-_IA_f__-_opinion.pdf

They rated it ‘Not fit for Purpose’

“The IA is not fit for purpose. The Department has not sufficiently considered, or sought to quantify, the full impacts of the Bill. In addition, the IA does not include a consideration of the impact on small and micro businesses (SMBs) consistent with Better Regulation”.

“As first submitted, the IA was not fit for purpose as it failed to consider adequately the full impacts of the Bill, in line with RPC primary legislation guidance. In addition, the Department had not included a suitable assessment of the impact on SMBs across the UK economy, or the impact of regulation (and deregulation) upon them or any potential mechanisms to mitigate the impact.  In the Department’s revised IA, there has been little attempt to rectify these”

It’s my first introduction to the word ‘counterfactual’.  I intend to use it often!

This information was last updated on 22nd November 2022

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