UK legislation derived from the EU that was retained on the UK statute book at the point of Brexit will no longer be revoked en masse at the end of this year, the UK government has announced.
The Retained EU Law (Reform and Revocation) Bill (REUL) will be amended, removing a clause that would have scrapped any EU-derived laws that hadn’t already been replaced, repealed, or integrated into UK domestic law by December.
The REUL, introduced to Parliament in September 2022, initially included a sunset clause, meaning the estimated 4,800 EU-era rules would automatically expired after 31 December – unless ministers had specifically decided to replace or retain them.
A targeted list of around 600 specific pieces of secondary legislation and EU legislation is expected to be revoked at the end of 2023 instead.
