Trading standards body and consumer charities urge Government to scrap Retained EU Law Bill timetable

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) and a coalition of charities have launched a ‘Safeguarding Our Standards’ campaign due to “deep concerns” that the Government’s proposed Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill could harm consumers and businesses.

The campaign attempts to persuade the Government to scrap the Bill’s current deadline of 31 December 2023.

The REUL Bill, proposed by former Business Secretary Jacob Rees Mogg in September, would mean redrafting and potentially scrapping thousands of laws that affect food and product safety and consumer rights, as well as environmental protections and workers’ rights, the CTSI noted.

The CTSI is urging the Government to potentially explore a “phased approach to sunsetting legislation based on specific legislative areas.”

The group have said that public polling has revealed that most people think the Bill is a “waste of Parliamentary time”.

Amongst key findings from the public poll are:

• The public is most concerned about loss of protections in areas including: food safety (36.2% of the public ranked this as their number one priority), product safety (ranked number one by 31% of the public), and upholding laws that help enforcers crack down on scammers and rogue traders. This was mirrored by views from the Trading Standards profession – with product safety, food safety and fair trading being key concerns.
• The public think that the Government and Parliament should be prioritising their time dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, closely followed by action to tackle NHS waiting lists.  
• The translation of EU legislation into UK law was ranked last by the public in a list of the Government’s priorities.

The CTSI revealed: “A new survey of Trading Standards experts finds that the overwhelming majority (92.5%) believe that the Government should consider dropping its commitment to sunset legislation by 2023 and almost three-quarters (72%) said that an arbitrary timetable to sunset all EU-derived legislation should be abandoned altogether.” 

The concerns have led the CTSI and a coalition of charities including RoSPA and the Child Accident Prevention Trust to launch the ‘Safeguarding Our Standards’ campaign, which has also received the support of many other bodies including, The Anti-Counterfeiting Group, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and Electrical Safety First.

The Coalition group have sent a letter to the Prime Minister expressing their concerns. It said: “We are calling on the Government to amend its timetable for the implementation of the Retained EU Law Bill, and suggest a phased timetable with targets for specific areas of legislation.”

The group also call on the Government to give a “cast-iron guarantee” that UK consumers will be no worse off if the Bill is introduced, with the “highest standards for food, the safety of the products we use and the protections that safeguard so many of us being maintained.”

CTSI Chief Executive, John Herriman said: “These latest findings confirm our fears around the current timetable for the Retained EU Law Bill. Rushing to overhaul vast swathes of UK legislation, particularly when the country faces such an unprecedented set of other challenges, is not something that those of us working in Trading Standards or consumer protection want, and there is clearly concern from the public that the Government should be focusing its precious Parliamentary time on other matters. 

“We would urge the Government to reconsider the implementation timetable for the Bill and to potentially explore a phased approach.”

Yvonne Fovargue MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Consumer Protection, said: “This campaign, rightly, is not about refighting battles about Brexit. Rather, it’s about ensuring that we have good regulation in place that protects consumers and keeps people safe. 

“Yes, we should always keep regulations under review and make sure they are fit for purpose. But let’s not play into a fantasy agenda that equates regulation with barriers to trade and growth. That’s nonsense.

“Good regulation benefits business and consumers alike. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.”