Post-Brexit reform

Following the exit from the EU, the UK has more freedom to make and implement rules that put UK businesses and consumers first and that aim to boost competition, innovation and growth across the economy. 

HM Government is already starting to think about what this may mean in practice and a consultation from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), launched on 22 July.
This is as an initial response to the report by the independent Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR), exploring a number of recommendations on the UK’s regulatory framework post Brexit, looking at ways to dispense with unnecessary red tape that no longer meets the UK’s needs and enabling innovative companies to trial ground-breaking ideas safely. 

Areas examined in the consultation include:

• the adoption of a less-codified, common law approach to regulation
• a review of the role of regulators, especially around competition and innovation
• delegation of more discretion to regulators to achieve regulatory objectives in a more agile and flexible way counterbalanced by increased accountability and scrutiny
• streamlining the process of assessment of impacts
• moving to earlier scrutiny of impact assessments and evaluation of existing regulation
• consideration of options on measuring the impact of regulation
• re-introduction of regulatory offsetting
• baselining the UK’s regulatory burden.

The consultation sets out 5 principles that will underpin the government’s approach to regulation: 

• A sovereign approach: the UK will use its freedoms to take a tailored approach to setting rules in a way that boosts growth and benefits the British people
• Leading from the front: the UK will act nimbly to support the development of new technologies 
• Proportionality: UK will use non-regulatory options where possible, while acting decisively to put in place strong rules where they are needed
• Recognising what works: regulations will be thoroughly analysed to ensure they work in the real world
• Setting high standards at home and globally the UK will set high standards at home and engage in robust regulatory diplomacy across the world, leading in multilateral settings, influencing the decisions of others and helping to solve problems that require a global approach. 

The consultation closes on 1 October 2021