Research and analysis

Retained EU law dashboard

This dashboard shows a list of retained EU laws (now known as assimilated law). These are laws that the UK saved to ensure legislative continuity immediately after Brexit.

Documents

Brexit opportunities catalogue of retained EU law and interactive dashboard

List of retained EU laws

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Details

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 was created to provide the public with information on how much legislation is derived from the EU, and the progress the 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 the devolved institutions in Scotland, Northern 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 was a type of domestic law, created by the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EUWA) and which came into effect at the end of the UK’s post-Brexit transition period (which ended on 31 December 2020). The primary objective of REUL was to provide legal continuity and certainty at the end of the transition period.

On 29 June 2023 the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2023 received Royal Assent, paving the way for significant regulatory reforms and enabling the removal of REUL from the UK statute book. Under the ‘REUL Act’, REUL which had not been revoked by the end of 2023 then became “assimilated law”. Unlike REUL, assimilated law is not interpreted in line with EU 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 sixth 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 6,757 individual pieces of REUL, concentrated over 400 unique policy areas. This is almost three times as many pieces of REUL as had been identified by the review which concluded in June 2022.  

Creating and continuing to develop this 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 regular 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 visit the Retained EU Law dashboard.

Published 22 June 2022
Last updated 22 January 2024 + show all updates
  1. REUL dashboard has been updated.

  2. Minor update to data on REUL dashboard to include REUL within November Statutory Instruments (SIs).

  3. This is a regular update to the retained EU law (REUL) dashboard. It includes an additional 77 pieces of REUL that have been identified since April 2023.

  4. The Department for Business and Trade has updated the dashboard to include additional entries and amend existing ones.

  5. This is the third iteration of the retained EU law (REUL) dashboard. It includes an additional 1,080 pieces of REUL that have been identified since the last iteration. The major change in this update is the new location of the dashboard. It's moved from Tableau to Power BI.

  6. Updated to reflect MoG changes and amendments to the policy area / legislation this page discusses

  7. First published.