We first posted this alert on 17 March 2023 and have updated this to reflect recent developments.
Introduction
In September 2022 the UK government introduced the “Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill” (“the Bill”) which aims at amending, repealing or replacing retained EU law that, in the government’s view, “is no longer fit for the UK”. A revised version of the Bill was then issued in January 2023 (which we reported on here https://www.corderycompliance.com/uk-eu-rrb-dp-0223/).
Where are things at now?
There has been a recent significant development as the UK government announced that it will replace the so-called “sunset clause” in the Bill with a list of laws that will be revoked by the end of this year 2023. Now only some 600 laws will be revoked (as opposed to the original plan of revoking some 4,000 laws) and the list of these 600 laws has now been published by the UK government.
What’s next?
The UK government is expected to formally introduce its proposed changes soon – there may be other changes too. Technically-speaking the Bill is still in the so-called Report Stage before the House of Lords, where other suggested amendments to the Bill are being made.
The government is very keen to see the Bill adopted and there is a realistic chance of this happening this summer 2023, but those UK parliamentarians who have been supporting the Bill have been heavily critical of the UK government’s recent change in approach so this matter is by no means a done-deal yet.
Takeaways
Organisations who may be affected by the Bill should check the list of 600 laws intended to be revoked to determine if they may be affected by this, along with continuing to follow developments with regard to the Bill very closely – the disappearance of certain EU-derived legislation could have very significant consequences for compliance.
More information
We write about compliance issues here: https://www.corderycompliance.com/news/.
| Jonathan Armstrong, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH | André Bywater, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH | |
| Office: +44 (0)207 075 1784 | Office: +44 (0)207 347 2365 | |
| Jonathan.armstrong@corderycompliance.com | Andre.bywater@corderycompliance.com | |
 |
 |