Justice Committee reports on "no deal" Brexit regulations
An impact assessment is needed of the effect of civil and criminal justice regulations made for the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to Holyrood's Justice Committee in a report published today.
MSPs on the committee have scrutinised 15 pieces of subordinate legislation made in preparation for a possible no-deal Brexit. They were made under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to cover areas where leaving the EU without a deal would lead to the law being unclear or not working as intended.
The measures cover family law, including jurisdiction and recovery of maintenance; civil and commercial law (jurisdiction, applicable law, service, taking evidence, judgments and enforcement); criminal justice, policing and security, including arrangements for compensation; the practising rights of lawyers from other EU member states; and other miscellaneous areas. The committee has previously reported on the individual regulatins with recommendations as to whether they should be approved or consented to.
Some of the changes are minor and technical (e.g. removing references to EU bodies the UK would no longer be a member of), but other changes are more substantive, and would have more concrete impacts on people’s lives and how they seek justice.
The new report sets out the Justice Committee’s scrutiny of these pieces of subordinate legislation and calls for a cumulative assessment of their impact for Scotland’s justice system.
Committee convener Margaret Mitchell MSP commented: "While the final outcome for Brexit remains unclear, the Scottish and UK Governments, and committees across the Parliament, have been working to ensure the statute book is prepared in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
"When it comes to the changes that would affect Scots law specifically, the committee is concerned that there is no publicly available cumulative impact assessment of what these changes would mean if enacted. It is also important to consider other impacts, where alternative arrangements may be more cumbersome or there are no clear ‘fallback’ arrangements.
"For clarity, the committee is asking the Scottish Government to set out its understanding of how the justice system in Scotland will function in a no-deal scenario."