Retained EU law dashboard

In September 2021, the government announced the review into the substance of retained EU law (REUL) to determine which departments, policy areas and sectors of the economy contain the most REUL.. 

This initial exercise culminated in the publication of the dashboard in June 2022, which catalogued 2,417 individual pieces of REUL. The REUL dashboard showcaseswas created to provide the outcomepublic ofwith thisinformation reviewon how much legislation is derived from the EU, and subsequentthe furtherprogress workthe government is making in accelerating its reform. It includes UK legislation which is reserved, and which has mixed competence or falls under devolved competence. However, it does not include any legislation made by departmentsthe asdevolved aninstitutions authoritativein catalogueScotland, ofNorthern REUL.Ireland or Wales. 

The public is invited to explore this catalogue to build an understanding of how much EU-derived legislation sits on the UK statute book and scrutinise legislation.

Background

REUL iswas a categorytype of domestic lawlaw, created by the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EUWA) and which came into effect at the end of the UK’s post-Brexit transition period.period It(which isended madeon up31 December 2020). The primary objective of certainREUL pieceswas to provide legal continuity and certainty at the end of directthe transition period.

On 29 June 2023 the Retained EU legislationLaw that(Revocation wereand ‘cutReform) Bill 2023 received Royal Assent, paving the way for significant regulatory reforms and pasted’enabling ontothe removal of REUL from the UK statute book. Under the ‘REUL canAct’, includeREUL legislationwhich thathad isnot primarilybeen designedrevoked toby fulfilthe domesticend policyof objectives2023 orthen otherbecame international“assimilated commitments,law”. whereUnlike legislationREUL, alsoassimilated implementslaw is not interpreted in line with EU obligations. principles of interpretation; these were removed from domestic law by the REUL Act with effect from 1 January 2024.   

The catalogue of REUL can be accessed via Microsoft Power BI, which hosts the fifthsixth iteration of the interactive REUL dashboard and provides viewers with the opportunity to explore and filter the legislation within. The dashboard now holds a total of 50206,757 individual pieces of REUL, concentrated over 400 unique policy areas. areas. This is aalmost netthree increasetimes ofas 26many pieces of REUL sinceas thehad lastbeen updateidentified on 4th September 2023. Future updates to the Dashboard will take place throughout 2024.

This catalogue is provided by the UKreview government and is therefore not intended to provide an authoritative account of REUL that sits with the competence of the devolved governments. However, it may contain individual pieces of REUL which doconcluded sit in devolvedJune areas, and it does identify the territorial application of each piece of REUL. 2022.  

Creating and continuing to develop this comprehensive record of EU-derived legislation will enable the government to accelerate regulatory reform and reclaim the UK statute book. Going forward, the government will continue to update this catalogue on a quarterlyregular basis as departments work to identify where more legislation can be amended, repealed or replaced. This dashboard documents the government’s progress against that aim.

For further instructions on using the dashboard please visit the Retained EU Law dashboard.