On 29 June 2023, the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 completed its passage through Parliament and was granted Royal Assent. Its journey has not been a smooth one. From the outset, the Act provoked controversy, uniting trade unions, industry bodies and employers against it for the uncertainty it threatened to introduce.
The Act was introduced to “restore Parliamentary sovereignty” following the UK’s departure from the EU and to enable the government to create regulations “tailor-made to the UK’s needs” by ending the special status of retained EU law in the UK.
In May 2023, the government undertook a major reversal in approach when it removed the key sunset provision from the Act. Originally, the government had intended that the Act would revoke all EU-derived secondary legislation (including TUPE and the Working Time Regulations), as well as retained direct EU legislation. However, having acknowledged the scale of the task involved in identifying all such legislation, the government replaced the sunset provision with a list of around 600 pieces of legislation which will be repealed at the end of 2023. (None of the legislation contained in the list is significant from an employment law perspective.)
While the new approach provided some immediate certainty for businesses, the Act contains other sunset provisions which impact the content and operation of retained EU law and rules of interpretation. From January 2024, the Act will:
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