P382 – Amendments to the BSC in the event of no-deal Brexit
The Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) contains multiple references to European Union (EU) legislation and bodies. Additionally, it also contains text introduced as a result of implementing various EU legislation. Retaining these references and text following the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) withdrawal from the EU without a deal (‘no-deal Brexit’) would have meant that the BSC would have been technically inaccurate but would have remained operable because of the European Union Withdrawal Act 2018.
Formal title: Amendments to the BSC to reflect the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union without a deal
Current Status
Summary
The European Union Withdrawal Act (2018) would have allowed the BSC to remain operative immediately following exit day. However, there would have been technical inaccuracies, which may have led to confusion for anyone not familiar with the relevant Brexit legislation.
Most EU regulations would have been retained in UK law in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal – a ‘no-deal Brexit’. However, the UK government laid Statutory Instruments (SIs) that would have meant that some parts of EU Regulations would not have been retained i.e. some Articles within Regulations would have effectively been ‘deleted’ from retained UK law (some of the ‘deleted’ articles would have, in some cases, been replaced by UK replacement legislation but, not all). This means that the BSC would have needed to be updated to reflect this. Additionally, references to partially retained EU Regulations would have needed to be updated.
Progression
The Panel reviewed the draft Modification Report at their meeting on 11 April 2019 and deferred making a decision until there is more certainty around the UK’s exit from the EU. The Panel reviewed P382 on 10 October 2019 and deferred it again until the earlier of April 2020 or the first Panel meeting after the UK has left the EU.
The Panel rejected P382 at its meeting on 13 February 2020. There is no longer a requirement for P382 as the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2000 was enacted into UK law and ratified by the European Parliament prior to the UK leaving the EU on 31 January 2020.