REUL Bill Further Update (UK)

I refer readers to my earlier blog post of this morning. The Report Stage debate is ongoing at the House of Lords – a number of aspects are being clarified –

(1) The Schedule (Revocation Schedule) is the list of those items that will be removed from the statute book at the end of this year. The Clause introducing this Schedule and removing the sunset clause and its extension is not yet voted on, but it has already been amended by vote to ensure each item on the said Revocation Schedule is referred to the Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament for scrutiny, and if found to be a substantive deletion, is then debated on the floor of each House and if not approved for deletion, is then kept.

(2) All EU-era law will have its attribution context and it’s interpretative referencing to EU rights removed at the end of the year, regardless, so to that extent the sunset clause persists. Further amendment of this Clause 4 agreed by vote of the House of Lords will require the relevant minister to make a statement before the end of October 2023 to, as the case may be, each House of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru or the Northern Ireland Assembly, identifying any rights, powers, liabilities, obligations, restrictions, remedies or procedures that the relevant national authority has decided not to restate, reproduce or replace before the end of 2023 and that it wishes to be revoked at the end of 2023. In this manner, Parliament & devolved legislatures rather than the Executive would have final say on revocation of rights, powers & liabilities of remaining retained law (assimilated law) at end of 2023.

(3) Any EU-era law not listed in the Revocation Schedule will be assimilated. And this assimilated EU-era law will be able to be changed, modified, including having its title changed and will certainly undergo minor amendment to remove its attribution/interpretative context up to 23rd June 2026 (listed in other clauses to the Bill). This date is not sunsetted. But the intention (as stated by Lord Callanan for the Government) is that the principle and the policy covered by the assimilated EU-era document is kept.

I may amend this Post further online. If I do, the reader must return to check the online version, as it will not be posted out to inboxes.

REUL Bill Update (UK)

This Bill (in my blog before) is now before the House of Lords, today and on Wednesday, for its Report Stage (one of the last stages before Royal Assent).

The UK Government recently confirmed it would delete the 31st December 2023 sunset clause, and its extension date in 2026, except for a list of EU-era documents. This list is now published – it would be an inserted Schedule to the Bill.

Find here, the collated amendments to the Report Stage of the REUL Bill, including the contents of the proposed new Schedule (of deletions by 31st Dec 2023). Note: the UK Government (Lord Callanan) has also proposed to enable devolved governments to remove items from his proposed Schedule.

On this Schedule (list of deletions by 31st Dec 2023) – (assuming Royal Assent of the list as is) –

(1) Removal of Annex 8 to the UK CLP document – here is a link to EU ECHA on the purpose of Annex 8. The UK CLP document is a version of the EU-era CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging) Regulation.

(2) Deletion of recent changes to Annex 1 of the EU-era PIC Regulation – a 2019 local instrument made changes to Annex 1 but these are not showing on the legislation dot gov dot uk website, and so we will need to produce a Cardinal Environment text consolidation for this PIC document. Annex 1 lists the chemicals covered by the EU-era PIC Regulation.

(3) Deletion of various EU-era instruments regulating establishing standardised application information when GMOs are to be deliberately released to the market or the environment. The UK now has a Precision Breeding Act regulating PBOs (Precision Bred Organisms) as distinct from GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Under the new Act, the developer no longer “applies” but “notifies”. But developers still must “apply” under EU-era rules for the deliberate release of GMOs into the market/into the environment. It would appear DEFRA intends (by deleting the EU-era rules in this area) to change this to a “notification” process. The GMO register (of genetic modifications in GMOs) being lost in the REUL deletion process would be replaced by the PBO register under the Act. PBOs and GMOs would seemingly co-exist, in regulation terms.

The above would need to be achieved by issue of Statutory Instrument. Hopefully, further information will be available at that point.

We will amend the REUL List showing on client systems. and we will change the colour coding. However, we will retain the REUL List as a whole, since changes may occur to these EU-era rules over time, but not subject to a deadline.

Also note – the UK Government made two additional announcements (at the time of announcing the removal of the 31st Dec 2023 sunset deadline and it’s extension) –

(A) (EU-era) Working Time Regulations – these would be amended a bit, but the 48 hour week would be retained and also the combined leave provisions would still exceed the minimum in the EU.

(B) (EU-era) TUPE Regulations – these would be adjusted a bit. These rules are outside our remit.

UK REACH Extension (UK)

Last year (2022) the UK Government consulted on extending the registration deadlines, from the current deadlines, the first of which is as soon as October 2023.

The UK REACH Regulation contains transitional provisions that allow companies to submit initial ‘notification’ data in order to continue trading and then subsequently provide the full registration data. The transitional provisions apply to those that were registrants, downstream users or distributors under EU REACH before UK REACH came into effect. The current deadlines for completing this transitional registration process, depending on tonnage and hazard profile of the substance, are set down in Article 127P of UK REACH, and the first of these is 27 October 2023.

The UK Government published its consultation response in November 2022. It did agree to extend the deadlines. But the legislation to put this into effect is not yet issued.

We will notify subscribers to Cardinal Environment EHS Legislation Registers & Checklists, in the monthly Email Alert, as soon as this legislation has been enacted. In the meantime, questions about the deadlines should be addressed to the HSE.

The November 2022 UK Government consultation response is here.

Please note: the UK REACH legislative instrument (a Brexit amended EU-era document) is currently on the list for deletion in the REUL Project. However, we now understand that the REUL Project will remove a smaller number of EU-era documents than the current Bill wording requires, and possibly the sunset clause could itself be removed. We await the UK Governments tabled amendments to the REUL Bill, which will return to the Lords 15/17 May for its Report stage, for the detail on this.

REUL Bill Update (UK)

The FT is reporting this morning that the (government’s) BEIS Secretary of State has told Brexiter Tory MPs the sunset clause will be removed from the bill: approx 800 EU-era laws will be removed by 31st Dec with the majority retained.

We await publication of the government’s bill amendments for the detail. Subscribers to Cardinal Environment Legislation Registers & Checklists can see a working list of the large number of EU-era laws that would be deleted if the current REUL bill wording is not changed. We will update this list when further detail is available.

The REUL bill is due back in the Lords 15/17 May for the Report stage (the last stage before returning to the Commons and bill assent). Note: these dates are not published.

REUL Bill UPDATE (UK)

UPDATE : this bill (report stage) is back in the House of Lords list for 15/17th May 2023

*** the REUL bill has been removed from the list of House of Lords forthcoming business.

Next stage to be confirmed, but likely not before mid May.

EU Law Revocation (UK)

Yesterday the REUL bill had its Third Reading in the House of Commons, and now goes to the House of Lords. To remind, it’s a UK bill extending to all parts of the UK. It’s unamended, save for a government amendment that will make any document surviving the process to be known as an “assimilated” instrument.

At Third Reading, the government confirmed the following –

(1) up to 4,000 existing instruments on the UK statute base could be affected by the REUL bill project, they said 3,200 instruments had already been verified as within the scope of the project (the government accepted its (public) dashboard shows 2,400, some already revoked)

(2) the (above) dashboard (here) hitherto moribund, would be updated possibly by the end of this month

(3) standards could rise, despite the REUL bill regulatory burden stipulations

(4) devolved governments could reissue the sunsetted laws themselves within their capacities (no announcement re Northern Ireland which has no current government)

Reminder: the REUL bill will sunset (revoke) in scope existing instruments by 31st December 2023. The bill enables a Minister or a devolved administration to exempt an instrument or a part of an instrument from sunset before that date, and thereby preserve it.

The bill gives an extension possibility, by regulation of a Minister (not a devolved administration) and only for an instrument or category of instrument specified in that regulation (not a general extension), and only to 23 June 2026.

The bill applies UK wide, but “Northern Ireland law” is out of scope.

It’s now accepted that 4,000 existing instruments are in scope.

As I posted yesterday, the Britain list (of in scope REUL bill affected instruments) is already loaded onto subscribers’ systems. I will now compile the Northern Ireland list, and it will show on subscribers’ systems shortly.

EU Law Revocation (Northern Ireland)

I had earlier written that the REUL Bill does not apply to Northern Ireland. This is incorrect. As currently drafted, the Bill applies to Northern Ireland, and so it’s accommodation of the pre-existing Northern Ireland Protocol is not presently understood.

The Bill is back in Parliament today for its Third Reading in the House of Commons.

I will commence compiling the list of laws pertaining to Northern Ireland affected by the Bill. This will load onto subscribers Northern Ireland systems shortly, and updates included in the monthly Email Alerts. This list will also identify those of the cohort also listed in the Northern Ireland Protocol. If a document is listed in the Northern Ireland Protocol, it also applies in Northern Ireland, even if identified for deletion under the Bill.

Note: the list pertaining to Britain and the devolved administrations in Britain (Scotland and Wales) is already loaded onto subscribers systems for these jurisdictions.

I will Blog post again, if the Government accepts any amendments arising from the Report stage, being debated later today.

The later stages in the Lords (of enactment of this Bill) could also make amendments, that may or may not be accepted by the Government. Further Blogs on the matter can be expected.

Environmental Targets (UK)

Late today the UK Government announced its delayed proposals for targets (under the Environment Act 2021) – 13 targets will be laid by statutory instrument – here – they will go live in 2023 once approved by Parliament – this is a link to England’s biodiversity indicators –

Biodiversity on land

• To halt the decline in species abundance by 2030.
• To ensure that species abundance in 2042 is greater than in 2022, and at least 10% greater than 2030.
• Improve the Red List Index for England for species extinction risk by 2042, compared to 2022 levels.
• To restore or create in excess of 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042, compared to 2022 levels.

Biodiversity in the sea 

• 70% of the designated features in the MPA network to be in favourable condition by 2042, with the remainder in recovering condition.

Water quality and availability 

• Abandoned metal mines target: Halve the length of rivers polluted by harmful metals from abandoned mines by 2038, against a baseline of around 1,500 km.
• Agriculture target: Reduce nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sediment pollution from agriculture into the water environment by at least 40% by 2038, compared to a 2018 baseline.
• Wastewater target: Reduce phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater by 80% by 2038 against a 2020 baseline.
• Water Demand Target: Reduce the use of public water supply in England per head of population by 20% from the 2019/20 baseline reporting year figures, by 2037/38.

Woodland cover 

• Increase total tree and woodland cover from 14.5% of land area now to 16.5% by 2050.

Resource efficiency and waste reduction 

• Reduce residual waste (excluding major mineral wastes) kg per capita by 50% by 2042 from 2019 levels.

Air quality 

• An Annual Mean Concentration Target for PM2.5 levels in England to be 10 µg m-3 or below by 2040.
• A Population Exposure Reduction Target for a reduction in PM2.5 population exposure of 35% compared to 2018 to be achieved by 2040.

The announcement states the UK Government will set out more details about its plans to deliver these targets in its Environmental Improvement Plan: its manifesto for the environment for the next 5 years. Publication will be by 31 January, as required by law.

There are no targets announced for –

* River or groundwater health (existing legislation is listed for deletion in GB under the Removal of REUL Project)

* Protected nature sites (much of the existing legislation is listed for deletion in GB under the Removal of REUL Project)

* Resource efficiency (existing legislation is listed for deletion in GB under the Removal of REUL Project)

EU Law Revocation (Britain) Update

The Financial Times is reporting this morning that a further large number of EU laws has been located by the National Archives. The report is that the end 2023 deadline for revocation of REUL (retained EU law) is now likely to slip, as the scale of the work challenge to replace or reform each instrument builds.

The Bill is currently in Committee stage, as currently drafted Ministers could delay until June 2026, but both dates of December 2023 and June 2026 could now change.

We will nonetheless, list the instruments that will be affected, and load this onto Cardinal Environment Limited EHS Legislation Registers & Checklists in January 2023. We will track the changes to this list and the development of replacement or reformed instruments by using the traffic light system, the same approach we used for the Brexit Consolidated Law project (which is concluded).

I will write further Updates (Blog posts) as more information becomes available on the revocation of REUL.

Environmental Outcomes Reports (UK)

Part 5 (clauses 116 to 130) of the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill provides for regulations – termed Environmental Outcomes Reports Regulations (EOR Regulations) to be enacted by the Secretary of State to specify outcomes in relation to environmental protection in the UK or a relevant offshore area that are to be “specified environmental outcomes”. The Bill is here, and it is in Committee (House of Commons).

The Bill Explanatory Notes state the EOR Regulations will be subject to public consultation and also the affirmative parliamentary procedure (which requires a positive vote of the UK Parliament) and would (by its own provisions) uphold the non-regression provisions set out in Part 5 (clause 120).

The effect of the EOR Regulations will be not only to specify outcomes relating to environmental protection, but also against these specified environmental outcomes to assess the relevant plans and relevant projects through an Environmental Outcomes Report. As well as assessing against outcomes, an Environmental Outcomes Report must additionally set out and assess the impact of any proposed mitigation or compensation as well as considering reasonable alternatives to the consent or plan, or any element of them. Where an Environmental Outcomes Report is required, this would (by law) be taken into account when considering whether to grant consent or bring a plan into effect.

Essentially the EOR Regulations will take over from the EIA Regulations (for those projects and plans where environmental outcomes reports are mandated).

Bill clause 116 defines environmental protection to be –

(a) protection of the natural environment, cultural heritage and the landscape from the effects of human activity;

(b) protection of people from the effects of human activity on the natural environment, cultural heritage and the landscape;

(c) maintenance, restoration or enhancement of the natural environment, cultural heritage or the landscape;

(d) monitoring, assessing, considering, advising or reporting on anything
in paragraphs (a) to (c).

Before making specified environmental outcomes, Bill clause 116 states the Secretary of State must have regard to the current environmental improvement plan made under Part 1 of the Environment Act 2021 (presently the 25 Year Environment Plan, as none is yet made under the EA 21 Part 1), including the legally binding long-term targets and interim targets that are set under it.

Bill clause 117 provides for an environmental outcomes report to be made for certain consents and certain plans. An environmental outcomes report is a written report.

Further clauses set out powers to be ascribed to these EOR Regulations in relation to consents and plans. Note: the new terms “category 1 consent” and “category 2 consent”.

Bill clause 120 sets out safeguards for non-regression, international obligations and public engagement.

Bill clause 121 deals with interactions with the devolved administrations.

Bill clause 122 addresses exemptions for national defence and civil emergency.

Bill clause 123 sets out sanctions, notably the EOR Regulations may create criminal offences, but not the penalty of imprisonment.

Bill clause 127 addresses the interaction with existing environmental assessment regulations (this is a list of law, including the various existing EIA Regulations) and the existing Habitats Regulations. In particular, the EOR Regulations may disapply aspects of the environmental assessment Regulations or the existing Habitats Regulations where an environmental outcomes report is required.

The existing Habitats Regulations are the source of European Protected Species (and their additional protection from disturbance (animals), and cutting and collecting (plants)) and also European Protected Sites (habitat).

The EOR Regulations may also amend, or revoke the existing environmental assessment regulations.