Main navigation

Davidson review calls for evidence of ‘goldplating’ review aims to reduce unnecessary burdens on UK business

A review set up to look at how the UK puts EU legislation into practice is calling for evidence of over-implementation.

The review is calling for business and other sectors to come forward with instances where ‘goldplating’ – adding unnecessary burdens as EU measures enter UK law – may be creating excessive red tape in the UK.

Neil Davidson QC, the former Solicitor General for Scotland, was appointed by the Chancellor in November 2005 to lead an independent review to look not only at ‘goldplating’, but at the broader issue of over–implementation.

Supported by the Cabinet Office, the review aims to identify – and consider ways to simplify – any unnecessary burdens created by over–implementation, and will report with recommendations to Government by the end of 2006.

The review is looking at the whole process by which EU legislation is given effect in the UK, from transposition (writing EU legislation into national law) to enforcement. It adopts a broad definition of over–implementation and welcomes examples of:

• Goldplating: Where the implementation goes beyond the minimum necessary to comply with an EU directive by, for example, using wider legal terms than those in the directive, or extending the scope.
• Double Banking: Where EU legislation covers the same ground as domestic legislation and the two regimes have not been fully streamlined.
• Regulatory Creep: Where regulatory burdens are added to through guidance or other non–statutory means.

Neil Davidson QC, said:

“Around half of all new legislation that impacts on business derives from rules agreed by governments at the EU level – so it is important that the Government and society are confident that EU rules are written into the UK statute book as simply and effectively as possible.

“Today I am publishing a call to evidence to give everyone the chance to put forward examples of EU implementation they think ought to be independently scrutinised and perhaps revisited by the Government.

“The purpose of my Review is not to catalogue whether various sectors of society like or dislike certain rules agreed by governments at the EU level. The Review will focus on areas of over–implementation – where the UK has regulations that are stricter or more burdensome than required by EU law – and consider whether these could be simplified.’

Welcoming the review, Cabinet Office Minister Jim Murphy said:

”This Government is committed an ambitious regulatory reform agenda in the UK and the EU, and as a part of that Neil Davidson will carry out important work to analyse how EU legislation is implemented in the UK.

”We have strengthened scrutiny of EU regulations, publishing best–practice guidance for policy–makers in the 2005 budget. This review will ensure that the principles we set out are applied to the stock of laws originating from Europe that may not have been transposed in the least burdensome way possible. ”

What the Review is looking for:

The Review will evaluate a sample of EU–derived legislation for evidence of ‘over&8211;implementation’, including smarter implementation by other Member States. It will complement the work of government departments to reduce their regulatory burdens by helping them to identify further proposals to include in upcoming simplification plans.

The review team is also interested in hearing about areas where EU–derived regulation is enforced more strictly in the UK by comparison to other parts of the EU; and examples where the higher regulatory standards resulting from over–implementation justify the extra costs.

To download the pdf document which sets out the examples we are interested in hearing about, alongside further details about the scope and timing of the review, please go to http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/bre/.

The call for evidence will last for 12 weeks. If you have evidence relevant to the review, please email or post any views or evidence to BRE-Davidson.Review@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk by 25th May 2006.

The contact details for the review team are:

Davidson Review of Implementation of EU Legislation
Cabinet Office, 22 Whitehall,
London, SW1A 2WH

Tel: 020 7276 1751

Notes to editors

1. Neil Davidson QC: biography – Neil Davidson has been a QC at the Scottish Bar since 1993. He was Solicitor-General for Scotland from 2000–2001. His practice covers a broad range of commercial and public law work. His commercial practice includes international business advisory work, international commercial arbitration and a wide range of intellectual property work. He was a founder / director of the City Disputes Panel from 1994–2000 and a founder of the Advocates' Business Law Group. In public law work Neil argued many of the human rights cases from Scotland before the Privy Council and has a considerable experience in judicial review and local government work. He co–authored the first work on Judicial Review in Scotland.
2. This review runs parallel to other work being run by the Cabinet Office Better Regulation Executive to reduce regulatory burdens. That work includes:
3. The Legislative & Regulatory Reform Bill The Legislative & Regulatory Reform Bill – for more information go to http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/bre/
4. The Admin Burden Measuring Project – go to http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/bre/
5. Simplification plans (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/simplification/index.asp) and the Government portal to harvest contributed ideas on better regulation (www.betterregulation.gov.uk/)
6. The Hampton agenda including consolidation of regulators and the Macrory Review of the penalties system – go to http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/bre/

Cabinet Office
Press Office
70 Whitehall
LONDON SW1A 2AS

Tel: 020 7276 1190 – Fax: 020 7276 0618

Out of hours telephone 07699 113300 and ask for pager number 721338.

www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk