Following 5 days of scrutiny, the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022-23 (the ‘Bill’) has completed its committee stage in the House of Lords.

During this 5-day period, the government made various amendments to the Bill, including the addition of a clause headed “Exceptions to sunset under section 1”. ”Sunset under section 1” refers to the clause which originally set out that any EU-derived secondary legislation will automatically cease to exist as of 1 January 2024. The new clause centralises all exceptions to the original sunset clause, which were scattered throughout the Bill and it adds two new exceptions, which are:

1. Any description of minor instruments specified in a statutory instrument (this removes the need to individually list large numbers of what might not be traditionally considered legislative instruments in order to preserve them); and
   
2. Transitional, transitory, or saving provisions – it is anticipated that this will avoid undoing or revoking retained EU law reform that has already been made, where aspects of the previous legislation were saved to support implementation of, or transition to, the new regime.

This is an evolving situation and we will keep you updated on its progress.