British Government Removes Sunset Clause from Retained EU Law

On 10 May 2023 the British government presented an amendment to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill removing the sunset clause that would automatically revoke most retained EU law on 31 December 2023.

Originally the Retained EU Law (REUL) was established by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to guarantee legal certainty and continuity in the period after Brexit by keeping all EU and EU-derived law as it was on 31 December 2020 when the UK left the EU.  On 22 September 2022 the Government presented the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill to Parliament. The Bill contains a sunset clause that would revoke the majority of REUL on the 31 December 2023 unless positive steps were taken by the government to keep it. REUL consists of around 4,800 pieces of legislation that must be reviewed before it can be decided if they should be preserved, reformed, or revoked.

The amendment to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill presented on 10 May removes the sunset clause from the Bill. Instead it presents a list of approximately 600 retained EU laws that the government intends to revoke at the end of 2023. The list contains REUL that is obsolete now that the UK has left the EU. The remaining legislation will be retained but can be revoked or reformed later after proper assessment and consultation. The full list can be found here. It contains a variety of legislation concerning biocides, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), import and export of substances subject to the prior informed consent (PIC) regulation, CLP Annex VIII obligation related to poison centers, food additives and environmental permits.