Will there be a bonfire of regulations?

There is significant ongoing concern about the possible impact on laws relating, amongst other things, to animal welfare, the environment, food standards and health and safety because of the so-called possible ‘bonfire of regulations’. This terminology relates to proposals to let many existing regulations lapse, a mechanism being introduced through the Retained Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022.

At first blush, this may sound attractive, after all, why not reduce the number and scope of regulations? But what if the removal of regulations meant a reduction in standards in those areas – will protections be preserved?

Interested groups, including those working in the environmental and agricultural sectors, are concerned that this legislation could reverse legal protections such as those enhancing pollution (such as air and water), wildlife and food. Additionally, the proposals potentially affect areas of everyday life. Would anyone wish to see the disappearance of regulations relating to seat-belt standards, for example?

All of this is linked to the aftermath of the UK leaving the EU. As part of the Brexit process, the UK transitioned EU law that was still being applied, into its own laws. These have continued to be in place, otherwise all EU law would have ended abruptly, leading to huge legal problems and disruption: a legal cliff edge. This retention of EU law is referred to as Retained EU Law (REUL). It is proposed that individual regulations within this body of law disappear at the end of 2023, unless a decision is made to positively retain it. There are almost 3,800 sets of REUL laws and measures, many which relate to the rural sector and its businesses.

There is a proposal that states that EU laws that have not been actively kept should expire on 23 December 2023, however, the UK Government intend to review what should be retained and what should expire. The crux is this: Unless any specific EU law is retained and subsumed into domestic law it will come to an end. The effect of this is that many current laws, which hold great importance and have provided significant protections for a very long time, may disappear. Critics of the Bill note that, under the mechanisms proposed, ministers will be able to decide what law is to be retained with little input from Parliament.

Furthermore, the consequences of the removal of this body of law is simply not something that can be addressed and debated by the end of 2023 but will require much longer. So what unintended consequences will follow? What safeguards will disappear? Why the rush to unpick a status quo that is not broken? Is it not that retained law can be preserved and then be amended? What happens if you have to apply standards that are contained in regulations in your trading operations that have been abolished? What if actual adverse safety or health impacts occur due to the removal of regulations intended to keep humans and animals safe, such as injury, death or ill-health?

In terms of regulations relevant to the rural sector, the Government has identified that in the area overseen by DEFRA alone, there are no fewer than 570 legal measures within their remit that will dissolve unless they are retained. The vast majority of these laws are in the area of agriculture, forestry, fishing, animal health, biosecurity and plant health, as well as rural development and agriculture. In some of these areas, such as food law, EU law has been an integral structure.

At the time of writing, it is not known how this will ultimately play out. This is a major issue of huge potential significance to be watched in 2023.

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