Retained EU law

Law - UK - Brexit.

(REUL).

Retained EU law in the UK is EU law that applied in the UK at the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020, and continues to apply.

The amount of retained EU law is being reduced over time, as it is replaced with law developed in the UK, for the UK context.

Retained EU law is provided for under the UK's European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

It includes:

• Domestic UK law which implemented former EU obligations.

• EU legislation which was directly applicable in the UK. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and other Regulations.

• Other rights and principles of EU law that had direct effect in the UK. For example the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of nationality.

EU Directives did not have direct effect in the UK.

Therefore they are not automatically retained EU law.

Source: Pinsent Masons - Retained EU law in the UK after Brexit.

Harmonisation - retained EU law

"Harmonisation means aligning divergent laws, regulations, systems and practices in different places.

Potential benefits of harmonisation include reducing complexity and cost. EU regulations - including GDPR and EMIR - aligned rules for businesses across the EU.

Following Brexit, the UK can make its own rules.

For example, it has been free to enact the UK’s new Financial Services Act 2021, most of which came into effect from June 2021.

Brexit has not exempted UK treasurers and colleagues from complying with the detailed rules introduced by EMIR, GDPR and the like.

Instead the UK now has UK EMIR, UK GDPR and so forth.

Many of the UK versions of EU rules started out as exact copies. But now they have begun to diverge.

And depending on where you do business, you may need to follow both sets of rules. Don’t assume, take advice."

ACT Learning Academy.

Retained EU law (REUL) dashboard - UK government

"REUL is a category of domestic law created at the end of the [Brexit] transition period.

It is made up of certain pieces of EU legislation that were ‘cut and pasted’ onto the UK statute book.

REUL is also made up of certain domestic laws that implemented EU law and were preserved as REUL on the UK statute book.

The catalogue of REUL can be accessed through an interactive dashboard...

Creating this catalogue of REUL is the first step in accelerating regulatory reform and reclaiming the UK statute book.

The government will continue developing this comprehensive record of where EU-derived legislation remains and will work to identify more legislation which can be amended, repealed or replaced.

This dashboard will document the government’s progress against that aim."

UK Government - REUL.

See also

• Benchmarks Regulation
• Brexit
• Brexit transition period
• Code of practice
• Direct effect
• Directive
• Divergence
• EMIR
• European Convention on Human Rights
• European Court of Justice
• European Union
• European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
• Financial Services Act 2021
• Financial Services and Markets Act 2023
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Gold-plating
• Harmonisation
• Law
• Onshore
• Parliamentary supremacy
• Red tape
• Regulation
• Statute
• UK
• UK EMIR
• UK GDPR
• UK MAR
• UK MiFIR

External links

• Pinsent Masons - Retained EU law in the UK after Brexit
• Retained EU law dashboard - UK government