Food for Thought – Cooperation Versus Competition in the UK Internal Market: Part II

We have all become familiar with labels on food packaging that tell us how many calories and how much fat, carbohydrate, protein and salt a product contains. The intention behind this type of information regulation is to give consumers a basis for making choices about the types of food they want to consume.  Food labelling...

Managing Regulatory Divergence through Intergovernmental Cooperation – Common Frameworks and the Threat of the Internal Market Bill: Part I

The controversial United Kingdom Internal Market Bill ‘UKIM Bill’) continues to attract public attention. On 9 November, the House of Lords voted to remove provisions in Part 5 of the Bill that would permit UK ministers to adopt regulations in breach of commitments made in the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and more especially the provisions on the Protocol on Northern...

(Re) Interpreting Brexit – the Judiciary as a Driver of Regulatory Divergence

At the beginning of July, the United Kingdom Government published a consultation paper. It sought views on whether to permit courts other than the highest UK courts to depart from ‘retained EU case law’. Under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, other courts are bound by the precedents of EU case law – as that case law stood...

It’s Brexit Time – Dividend or Disappointment?

The United Kingdom has formally left the European Union. More than three years after the EU membership referendum and ten months later than originally planned, its finally Brexit Time. Whether or not clocks chimed or Big Ben bonged to mark the moment of the UK's departure from the EU, time will still shape the Brexit...