Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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FSA Board Paper (INFO 23-06-01), 8 June 2023
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FSA Board Paper (June 2023) – Retained EU Law: Update A copy of the Board Paper is available (as a pdf file) on this site (click on image). Provided under the Open Government Licence. The original document was accessed from: |
The following are the first two sections from the Board Paper:
This paper provides an update to the Board on progress of the UK Government’s Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, and the FSA’s programme of work until 2026, to support delivery of the Bill and associated reforms.
1. Summary
1.1 This paper updates the Board on progress of the UK Government’s Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (the “REUL Bill”) and outlines our preparations for delivering reforms before the powers in the Bill cease to be useable in June 2026.
1.2 Although any changes to retained EU legislation (“REUL”) (footnote) are decisions for Ministers and ultimately for Parliament, in giving our advice we will continue to prioritise public health and will not compromise food and feed safety or standards. We also want to make sure that we continue to protect consumer interests, maintain consumer and trading partner confidence in UK food, and that businesses have the right regulation to enable them to provide safe food, to trade and to grow.
1.3 The Board is asked to:
2. Introduction
2.1 As of 8 June 2023, the REUL Bill is still going through Parliament and is anticipated to receive Royal Assent before the end of June 2023. Until the Bill is finalised, we are basing all our work and assumptions (and therefore the content of this paper) on the Bill as currently amended on 8 June 2023.
2.2 In the original drafting of the REUL Bill, all REUL would have ‘sunset’ on 31 December 2023 unless action was taken to retain it (either through preserving, extending, reforming or restating it), via Ministers making secondary legislation.
2.3 During the report stage in the House of Lords, the Government introduced an amendment to the REUL Bill that replaces the sunset clause with a list of the REUL which will be revoked directly under the Bill at the end of 2023 (via a revocation schedule). The Bill retains the powers that allow for amending, restating and revoking REUL until 23 June 2026.
2.4 As set out in the December 2022 Board paper, food law in the UK currently relies on both legislation of domestic origin and legislation deriving from the EU, with the two being closely intertwined. REUL is critically important for both the high-level principles of food safety and for the detailed operation of the regulatory framework.
2.5 In December 2022, the Board discussed the FSA’s approach to working on REUL and agreed the principles that would guide our recommendations to ministers on REUL. Based on feedback from the Board, these were revised and shared with the Board in the Chief Executive update in March 2022. For completeness the updated principles are included at Annex 1.
For some previous news items on this topic, see:
In particular, for the previous Board Paper from Decemebr 2022, see:
