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What does The Great Repeal Bill mean for UK law?

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Article 50 has now been triggered and the process of the UK leaving the EU is officially underway.

The final picture is still at least two years away, but we can now start to consider how the legal landscape might change when the process of Brexit comes to an end.

A proposed piece of legislation known as a ‘White Paper’, dubbed The Great Repeal Bill (the GRB), was published the day after Article 50 was triggered. Much has been made of the importance of this Bill, but why?

What does The Great Repeal Bill do?

The Great Repeal Bill sets out three aims.

  1. As the name suggests, it will repeal the European Communities Act 1972 (the 1972 Act). This will end the supremacy of EU law in the UK, as well as any future decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
  1. It will also convert all existing EU law into UK law so that the law on the day after the UK leaves the EU is no different from the day before.
  1. The third aim is to provide powers to the government to make corrections to those laws that will no longer operate correctly after they have been converted into UK law (for example, if they refer to an EU institution).

Why?

The conversion of EU law into UK law serves to maintain certainty during the Brexit process and to prevent gaps appearing in the statute book once that process is complete.

There are two main forms of EU law by which the people and businesses of the UK are affected; EU Regulations and EU Directives.

EU Regulations have direct effect in the UK by virtue of the 1972 Act as soon as they are passed by the various EU institutions. Examples are the Free Movement of Workers Regulation 2011 and the famous ‘Bendy Banana Law’. EU Directives are not automatically binding on member states when passed by the EU, but become binding only once each member state incorporates them into their own domestic law. For example, the EU’s Consumer Rights Directive 2011 set out a number of policy objectives and this was incorporated into UK law by the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and, subsequently, the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Theoretically, once the UK has left the EU, all the EU Regulations currently in force would cease to have any effect in the UK, resulting in a period of great uncertainty as the UK individually converts these regulations into UK law. To ease this uncertainty, the GRB proposes that EU law be converted en masse to UK law. Once this is done, the UK will then take on the task of reviewing the existing law, and the GRB suggests that government ministers be given the power to make the amendments necessary to ensure the law continues to operate normally.

When will it become law?

It is likely that, once formally introduced to Parliament, the bill will undergo a great deal of scrutiny and debate from both houses. However, the GRB is expected to come into force on the day the UK leaves the EU.

The triggering of Article 50 has started a negotiation period of two years, at the end of which the UK will leave the EU. As a result, the GRB cannot come into force before 29 March 2019. If more time is needed to negotiate Brexit, and if the EU Council, which includes all 27 remaining member states, agrees, that deadline could be extended. In that case, it is likely that the GRB’s implementation will be delayed commensurately.

What does it mean for my business?

In theory, this means that on the day the UK leaves the EU, your business will continue to run and be subject to the same laws as the day before.

It is unclear how soon or how many changes might be made after that point, so Harrison Drury is launching a Brexit working group, which will report to you on the changes affecting your business, giving you time to take advice and prepare for those changes.

Harrison Drury offers the full range of commercial legal services and our experts can help your business navigate its way through the challenges presented by the Brexit process. For more information, call us on 01772 258321.


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