Rewriting the REULs - EU tax laws to be scrapped

Around 600 pieces of legislation are due to be revoked by 31 December 2023 as part of a legislative wash-up now that the United Kingdom has left the European Union. REUL was established as part of the EU Withdrawal Act as a means of providing certainty and continuity immediately after Brexit.

The list includes the revocation of tax information exchange agreements on the taxation of savings income between the UK and:

• the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man);
• British Overseas Territories (Gibraltar, Virgin Islands, Montserrat); and
• the Dutch territories of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. 

Regulations requiring agents to provide HMRC with information on savings income paid to or received on behalf of residents in EU member states will also be withdrawn.

Also being revoked are:

• a co-operation agreement for the sharing of information between HMRC and EU Member States;
• regulations that established common terms for the customs tariffs and trade statistics;
• controls on cash entering or leaving the EU; and 
• regulations permitting reduced levels of fuel tax in geographical areas of the UK including the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Northern Isles, islands in the Clyde and Isles of Scilly.

In each case, the government describes the rules as being ‘inoperable’ following the UK’s departure from the EU.

The list also includes a series of regulations relating to tariffs on agricultural and food products, many of which have been made redundant following the passage of the Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act 2018, and the ending of regulations related to the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme, which has ceased to have effect in the UK.

The list has proved controversial in a number of ways. The government had originally planned to allow up to 4,000 pieces EU-related legislation to expire automatically at the end of the year which opponents warned could lead to important legislation disappearing by accident.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the slimmed down list of 600 would allow the government to focus on delivering ‘meaningful reform’ of REUL. Brexiteers including Badenoch’s predecessor as Business Secretary, Jacob Rees Mogg, accused the Prime Minister of breaking his word and accused ‘idle’ civil servants of holding back the government. The Labour Party said the decision was a ‘humiliating u-turn’.

The list is part of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which is continuing its passage through Parliament.

On Tuesday 23 May the Bill received its third reading in the House of Lords, with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lord Callanan arguing that it would help create ‘new pro-growth, high-standard’ frameworks to invest and grow the economy.

The Bill then returned to the House of Commons for consideration of Lords amendments the following day, with Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson telling MPs that the legislation would allow the country to ‘capitalise on the competitive advantages that the UK has now that we are no longer restrained by membership of the EU’, while being keen to stress that the 600 pieces of legislation being revoked were ‘not the limit of the Government’s ambitions’.

It will return to the Lords for consideration of Commons amendments on 6 June.