Ministry of Justice publishes second statement of new regulation
The Ministry of Justice along with other government departments has today published its second Statement of New Regulation (SNR2).
SNR2 provides an overview of all regulations intended to be implemented by government departments between July 2011 and the end of December 2011.
The Ministry’s SNR2 includes only one measure which relates to commencing the provisions in the Legal Services Act 2007, which establish the arrangement for a new licensing regime for Alternative Business Structures (ABS). This is a deregulatory measure which will relax the restrictions in law firm structure and allow non-lawyer ownership of law firms with different types of lawyers and non-lawyers able to work together as one entity to provide a range of legal and non-legal services. Introducing more flexibility in this way is expected to lead to greater competition in the legal services market and give consumers the choice of having their legal and other professional services dealt with by one entity.
The Ministry’s SNR2 opening One-in, One-out (OIOO) balance (anticipated regulatory costs to business) at 30 June 2011 was zero and our closing balance at the end of December 2011 is expected to be zero. As the aggregate costs and benefits for ABS are likely to be determined by the level of take up and the range of business models utilised by the firms as a result of ABS, which is currently unknown, the costs and benefits have not been monetised.
The Ministry has also today published an updated SNR1 which includes one measure relating to an EU Maintenance Order. This measure came into force in June 2011 and provides a swift and simple process for the reciprocal enforcement of maintenance between member states of the EU. It was implemented to align with existing domestic policy and this has brought the measure within scope of gold plating and therefore the One-in, One-out rule (OIOO). Costs have however been assessed at zero.
The Better Regulation Executive at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills who lead on the better regulation agenda across Government, will today also be publishing a cross-Whitehall narrative, and a summary of the OIOO position by department.
SNR1 table of measures (PDF 0.02mb)
SNR2 summary tables (PDF 0.03mb)