Retained EU law (UK law)

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See also: European Union law

Retained EU law (REUL) is a category of law in the United Kingdom left over from the United Kingdom’s former membership to the European Union and its predecessor organisation, the European Communities which was created at the end of the transition period following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union under the provisions of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

It consists of all Decision’s, Directives and Regulations of European Union law as it was at 23:00 GMT on 31 December 2020 which was at that moment automatically transferred into UK law.

Background

See also: European Communities Act 1972 (UK) and European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

ECA 1972

During 1972 in preparation for the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities (later European Union) as a member state from 1 January 1973 the UK Parliament passed the “European Communities Act 1972 (ECA 1972)” which incorporated Community Law (later European Union law) into the domestic law of the United Kingdom. In effect the legislation made Community Law (EU Law) another form of UK law. This provision was made under section 2 (1) of the act which read:

2. General implementation of Treaties (1) All such rights, powers, liabilities, obligations and restrictions from time to time created or arising by or under the Treaties, and all such remedies and procedures from time to time provided for by or under the Treaties, as in accordance with the Treaties are without further enactment to be given legal effect or used in the United Kingdom shall be recognised and available in law, and be enforced, allowed and followed accordingly ; and the expression " enforceable Community right" and similar expressions shall be read as referring to one to which this subsection applies.

This legislation was in effect with legal force from 1 January 1973 until 31 January 2020.

EUWA 2018

Following the outcome of a referendum which was held in 2016 the UK voted to leave the EU by 51.9% to 48.1% as consequentially this provision along with the ECA 1972 was repealed by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 when the United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020 at 23:00 GMT although the effect of the ECA was “saved” during the transitional period which ended in 31 December 2020 at 23:00 GMT. However the repeal of these provisions would create a “legal void” as the repeal “cuts off” EU law from UK law meaning thousands of pieces of legislation would instantly disappear off the statue book so the decision was taken by the UK Government in order to provide legal continuity that all EU laws that had effect within the United Kingdom at the time when the ECA was repealed would be transferred into UK law so that they can be amended or repealed at a later date by the UK Parliament.

The provisions for “Retained EU law” are in the following provision which reads:

3. Incorporation of direct EU legislation

(1) Direct EU legislation, so far as operative immediately before exit day, forms part of domestic law on and after exit day. (2) In this Act “direct EU legislation” means— (a)any EU regulation, EU decision or EU tertiary legislation, as it has effect in EU law immediately before exit day and so far as— (i)it is not an exempt EU instrument (for which see section 20(1) and Schedule 6), (ii)it is not an EU decision addressed only to a member State other than the United Kingdom, and (iii)its effect is not reproduced in an enactment to which section 2(1) applies, (b)any Annex to the EEA agreement, as it has effect in EU law immediately before exit day and so far as— (i)it refers to, or contains adaptations of, anything falling within paragraph (a), and (ii)its effect is not reproduced in an enactment to which section 2(1) applies, or (c) Protocol 1 to the EEA agreement (which contains horizontal adaptations that apply in relation to EU instruments referred to in the Annexes to that agreement), as it has effect in EU law immediately before exit day. (3) For the purposes of this Act, any direct EU legislation is operative immediately before exit day if— (a)in the case of anything which comes into force at a particular time and is stated to apply from a later time, it is in force and applies immediately before exit day, (b)in the case of a decision which specifies to whom it is addressed, it has been notified to that person before exit day, and (c)in any other case, it is in force immediately before exit day. (4)This section— (a)brings into domestic law any direct EU legislation only in the form of the English language version of that legislation, and (b)does not apply to any such legislation for which there is no such version, but paragraph (a) does not affect the use of the other language versions of that legislation for the purposes of interpreting it.

(5) This section is subject to section 5 and Schedule 1 (exceptions to savings and incorporation).

External links

• UK legislation

Template:English law types Template:UK legislatures

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