Leducate Explains: What is Brexit?
Hint - key terms are defined. Just click on the blue words to see their definitions!
Brexit has been one of the most talked-about political, social, legal and economic issues over the last 5 years. And, it has been incredibly complicated. This article will aim to demystify some of these issues so you can talk about these issues with some confidence and better understand the news.
The article will explain what European Law is and how Brexit has altered the UK’s relationship with these laws. Finally, we will look at the other international laws the UK follows.
The European Parliament - Photo credit: Adobe Stock
What is the EU?
The European Union (“EU”) is an economic and political union between members. A good way to think of it is as a club. It is a club consisting of countries which join together.
EU Institutions
There are seven key EU institutions:
1. European Parliament – similar to the UK parliament. They have 705 Members of European Parliament (MEPs) who are voted by the citizens of each Member State.
2. The European Council – The leaders of each of the Member States
3. The Council of the European Union – Government ministers from the different member states.
4. The European Commission – One commissioner per member state. There is a President who is nominated by the European Council. This body begins the process of creating new laws.
5. The Court of Justice of the European Union – One judge from each Member State. They consider cases brought to them from member states.
6. The European Central Bank – Decides on economic policy (monetary) in relation to the Euro and liaises with the central banks of each member state.
7. The Court of Auditors – Ensuring the transparency of EU spending and expenses.
How do EU laws become laws in the UK?
There were complex legal mechanisms at play to implement laws into the UK (and other ‘member states’). There are six sources of EU law: (1) EU Treaties/charters (2) regulations, directives and decisions (3) case law (4) international agreements (5) non-binding acts and (6) General principles of EU law. There is no need to understand, at this stage, how all of these individual sources of law are implemented but keep in mind that different types of EU laws are implemented in different ways.
European laws are laws that apply to all the 28 members of the European Union. The European Laws are enforced through a series of treaties. Treaties are best understood as agreements between different states. The Treaty of the European Union is one of the ways EU laws are implemented in member states.
On the UK side, the European Communities Act 1972 (“ECA”) outlined the relationship between UK law and highlighted the idea of ‘supremacy.’ Supremacy means that EU law would be applied instead of the UK one (or members’ states law). In other words, if there was an EU law which said (for the sake of argument) pens should be sold for £5 but a UK law which says pens should be sold for £10, the principle of supremacy means pens should be sold for £5 because the EU law should apply. It is important to note that the ECA was repealed (removed from law) on 31 January 2020.
What are some examples of law that originated from the EU?
There have been numerous laws that originated from the EU. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which updated laws in relation to data and the Common Agricultural Policy are examples. The real difficulty comes in understanding how these EU laws will apply or not apply to the UK.
Other Treaties
The UKTO (UK Treaties Online) has over 14,000 of these treaties. The UK has signed treaties regarding various areas of law. For example, The UK has signed the European Convention on Human Rights (not related to the EU) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These are just two of thousands of treaties the UK is involved with – look at government websites and the national archives for even more.
What does it mean now that Brexit has occurred for EU Laws?
Let’s look at the EU laws which will continue to apply to us – these are referred to as ‘retained’ EU Law. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 outlines three types of EU law which are retained in the UK. There are three types: (1) Domestic law implementing EU laws (2) EU legislation which is ‘direct’ EU legislation and (3) general principles of EU law. There are over 150,000 laws but there is no one document which outlines these laws.
So, what does this mean?
When you read articles about Brexit make sure you bear in mind that there are many EU laws which will still apply which fall into the three categories above. This means the EU will still have some influence over the UK legal system for time to come.
Written by Sachin Varma
Glossary box