Following the Government’s announcement to bring forward a new Brexit Bill to make it easier to change retained EU law (see here), the European Scrutiny Committee has begun an inquiry into these EU laws that were held over when the UK left the EU. Such laws cover employment rights, consumer protections, health and safety, and data protection, amongst others.

The Committee is inviting written submissions to the following questions by 14 March 2022:

• In what ways is retained EU law a distinct category of domestic law? To what extent does this affect the clarity and coherence of the statute book?
• Is retained EU law a sustainable concept and should it be kept at all?
• Do the principles and concepts of EU law continue to provide an acceptable and suitable basis for legislation in post-Brexit UK?
• How has the concept of retained EU law worked in practice since it came into effect and what uncertainties or anomalies have arisen, or may yet arise in the future?
• In light of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, what was the rationale for retaining the principle of the “supremacy of EU law”? What is the most effective way of removing the “supremacy of EU law” and other incidents of EU law from the statute book?
• Should retained EU law be interpreted in the same way as other domestic law? Should the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union have any relevance in the interpretation of retained EU law?
• Should a wider range of courts and tribunals have the ability to depart from retained EU case law and should it be binding at all?
• To what extent has retained EU law affected devolved competence?
• Are there issues specific to the devolved administrations and legislatures that should be taken into account as part of the Government’s reviews into retained EU law?

For further information, click here.