Retained EU Law and EU Interpretive Principles Revoked from UK Statute Book

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (Consequential Amendment) Regulations 2023 (with related Explanatory Memorandum) came into force on January 1, 2024, clarifying that certain changes provided for under the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 have come into effect. The Regulations:
 

• Replace all remaining references to “retained EU law” (and related terms) in U.K. primary legislation with the term “assimilated law” (or a similar term). Assimilated law is U.K. law that was previously retained EU law or “REUL”. The REUL Act provides that from January 1, 2024, REUL (and related terms) will be known as assimilated law.
• Remove from primary legislation references to the recognition of EU rights that were retained under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The REUL Act repealed the principle of the supremacy of EU law from January 1, 2024, meaning there is no supremacy for assimilated law over other pieces of U.K. statute.
• Remove references to general principles of EU law (established by the Court of Justice of the European Union) contained in primary legislation. This implements the provisions of the REUL Act that abolished the application of the principles of EU law from U.K. statute. Prior to January 1, 2024, such general principles continued to be applicable to the interpretation of REUL.

Examples of financial services legislation affected by the Regulations include the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Financial Services Act 2021 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. The U.K. Government continues to make post-Brexit reforms to the U.K. statute book, including in the context of financial services. Our webpage, “Future of Financial Services Regulation in the UK”, discusses the changes the U.K. has made or is proposing for the regulation of financial services.

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