European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition?
European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition?
Background
On 19 March 2018, the former Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis and the EU’s Chief Negotiator announced that the UK and the EU had reached a political agreement on a transition period and published a further version of the draft legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement.
Paragraph 1 of Article 127 of the draft Withdrawal Agreement stated:
“Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, Union law shall be applicable to and in the United Kingdom during the transition period.”
The focus of this inquiry was to start exploring what the transitional arrangements could be and the sort of arrangements the Welsh Government and the Assembly might need to prepare in advance of 29 March 2019.
Terms of reference
The External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee aimed to understand how European Union law would be given effect in Wales during the Brexit transition period (29 March 2019 to 31 December 2020), including the role of the Welsh Ministers and Assembly scrutiny.
Some of the questions to which the Committee sought answers were:
At a Wales and UK level
- What
process will be followed for the transposition, implementation and
enforcement of EU law during transition?
- What
role should the Welsh Government and Assembly have in this process?
- What
will the Assembly need to consider in terms of its scrutiny arrangements?
- How can
the Assembly's scrutiny approach interact with the UK Parliament's
European scrutiny system?
- Will
there be an intra-UK intergovernmental structure established to support
this process (such as the current JMC Europe)?
- What
role can Assembly Members play in the development of EU legislative
proposals during the transition period?
- How
will the two withdrawal Bills (the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and
the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill) interact with regards to
the transition period?
At an EU-UK level
- How will the views of the Welsh Government and the
Assembly on draft EU laws in devolved areas be presented to the European
Union?
- Will the Welsh Government be represented
on the EU-UK Joint Committee established under the Withdrawal Agreement?
- How should the Assembly scrutinise the actions of the Welsh Ministers in this regard?
Business type: Committee Inquiry
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: Complete
First published: 31/05/2018
Documents
- Correspondence from Robin Walker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the EU regarding European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? Response - 13 August 2018 PDF 111 KB
- Correspondence from Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance regarding European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? – 10 August 2018 PDF 201 KB
- Correspondence from Sir William Cash, Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee and Lord Boswell, Chair of the EU Select Committee to Dominic Raab MP, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union regarding the scrutiny of EU documents during a post-exit transition or implementation period - 24 July 2018 PDF 493 KB
- Correspondence to Llywydd regarding EU Law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? - 23 July 2018 PDF 166 KB
- Correspondence to Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance regarding EU Law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? - 20 July 2018 PDF 161 KB
- Correspondence to Sir William Cash, Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee regarding EU Law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? 20 July 2018 PDF 158 KB
- Correspondence to Lord Boswell, Chair of the EU Select Committee regarding EU Law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? - 20 July 2018 PDF 158 KB
- Correspondence to Robin Walker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the EU regarding EU Law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? – 20 July 2018 PDF 160 KB
- Correspondence from Robin Walker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the EU regarding European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? Response – 20 June 2018 PDF 157 KB
- Correspondence from Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance regarding European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? Response – 19 June 2018 PDF 189 KB
- Correspondence to Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance regarding European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? - 23 May 2018 PDF 169 KB
- Correspondence to Robin Walker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the EU regarding European Union law in Wales: What happens during the Brexit transition? – 23 May 2018 PDF 168 KB