The Government’s recently announced Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will likely see a large proportion of existing ‘retained’ EU Law, which the UK is currently bound by, phased out by 31 December 2023.
If implemented in its current form, the Bill will have far-reaching implications. We have put together below a brief summary of the key headlines.
Pursuant to the sunsetting provisions, all EU-derived subordinate legislation and retained EU legislation (estimated to be 2,400 pieces of legislation) will cease to have effect in the UK, unless expressly retained and preserved by a minister.
This would include legislation addressing topics like employment law, food safety and environmental protections and consumer protections from unfair trading.
The sunsetting will be effective automatically from 31 December 2023. However, there will be an option for ministers to extend this deadline to 23 June 2026, during which time they can elect to restate (i.e. retain) the relevant law.
The Bill will also repeal the supremacy of EU law, all general principles of EU law and directly effective EU rights. However, ministers will retain the power to revert this supremacy, in instances where they wish for EU law to prevail.
Ministers will also have the power to replace and amend current retained EU law with/via new secondary domestic legislation, without the need to pass an Act of Parliament (and thus avoid the scrutiny usually involved when introducing new domestic legislation).
Devolved nations can cherry pick elements of current retained EU law that they wish to keep, which is within their areas of devolved powers. They will also have the power to replace and amend current retained EU law in their areas of devolved powers.
The Bill includes express carve outs for certain legislative areas including financial services and data protection.
Any EU law that remains in force after 31 December 2023 will from them on be called “assimilated law”.
Currently the lower courts in England and Wales are bound by retained EU case law, whereas the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court have the ability to override such law. The Bill will allow the lower courts to refer matters of EU case law to the higher courts of England and Wales. This will have the effect of replicating the current system of referrals by national courts to the CJEU on matters of EU law.
The Bill has commenced its journey through the Parliamentary process. We will update readers as and when significant developments arise.
For more information, please contact Carl Steele, Ben Morgan or Tamar Hosking.
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