Browse regulations

This Order amends the Immigration (Passenger Transit Visa) Order 2014 to add Georgia and Russia to Schedule 1, requiring their nationals/citizens to obtain transit visas when passing through the UK. It includes a grandfather clause for those with existing bookings made before the Order's commencement date (8th September 2023) and traveling by 5th October 2023.

This regulation expands rather than reduces government control over transit movement, imposing costs on both travelers and airlines through visa compliance burdens. Transit visa requirements discriminate by nationality and drive transit business to competing European hubs (Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt), harming UK airports, airlines, and associated service industries. The Order makes Britons worse off by reducing competitive advantage of UK transit infrastructure, increasing costs for legitimate travelers, and adding bureaucratic requirements with no demonstrated corresponding security benefit that could not be achieved through less restrictive means.

Individual exemption from transmission licence requirement granted to Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited for the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm transmission system. The exemption applies temporarily from 9 October 2023 until either the transmission system is transferred to a successful bidder via competitive tender or 31 March 2024, whichever is earlier. This bridges the period until the competitive tender process for offshore transmission licences under section 6C of the Electricity Act 1989 is completed.

This is not a regulatory burden but a time-limited administrative exemption facilitating a competitive tender process. Without it, the wind farm could not transmit electricity during the transition period, damaging investment in renewable energy. The exemption has a built-in sunset clause and is conditional on completing the competitive tender process, actually promoting rather than impeding market competition for offshore transmission licences. The regulation imposes no ongoing compliance costs or restrictions.

These Regulations ban the supply of single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks, and single-use polystyrene cups and food containers in England. They create offences for businesses supplying these items, establish civil sanctions and enforcement mechanisms, grant enforcement officers powers to enter premises, and require regulators to publish guidance and conduct periodic reviews.

This regulation restricts free trade and consumer choice by banning products based on material composition rather than actual harm. It imposes compliance costs on businesses, substitutes political judgment for market decisions, and expands state enforcement powers. Britons would not be worse off without this regulation — consumers can still choose alternatives, businesses can compete on environmental attributes, and market mechanisms like taxes or voluntary initiatives could achieve environmental goals more efficiently. The regulation's restrictions on polystyrene and plastic products reflect political preferences rather than demonstrated market failure, and its criminal penalties for supplying legal products to willing buyers represents government overreach that would have troubled Adam Smith.

These Regulations implement international maritime safety conventions (SOLAS, STCW, etc.) for Ro-Ro passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft operating on regular services. They require pre-commencement inspections before ships begin service, annual inspections during operation, and grant inspectors powers to detain substandard ships via prohibition of departure notices. The Regulations apply to UK ships worldwide and non-UK ships in UK waters.

These regulations implement IMO multilateral conventions (not EU law) that the UK helped draft, establishing essential safety inspection regimes for passenger ships. Deletion would: (1) endanger passengers and crew as unsafe ships could operate without scrutiny; (2) isolate the UK from international maritime framework causing foreign port detentions of UK ships; (3) eliminate a core government function—preventing Loss of Life at Sea. While inspection costs exist, they are proportionate to the serious life-safety risks of Ro-Ro passenger ships, and the international nature of maritime shipping means equivalent standards are necessary for global operations.

These Regulations implement the 'McCloud remedy' for unlawful age discrimination in the NHS Pension Scheme caused by the 2015 reforms. They establish mechanisms for 'remediable service' (service affected by both legacy 1995/2008 and 2015 schemes), allowing members to elect or automatically receive corrected pension benefits. The regulations handle contribution adjustments, benefit recalculations, and compensation payments between members and the scheme, with special provisions for deceased members, immediate choice members (already receiving pensions), and deferred choice members. They apply to medical practitioners and non-GP providers in England and Wales.

These regulations remedy genuine contractual and property rights violations. NHS staff had pension contributions deducted under promises that were subsequently altered in a discriminatory manner by the 2015 reforms. Deleting these regulations would leave thousands of public servants—including doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals—with unlawfully reduced pensions and no mechanism for correction. While the regulations are complex, they represent a necessary administrative framework to rectify past wrongs rather than impose new burdens. Without them, Britons who paid into public pension schemes with legitimate expectations of certain benefits would be materially worse off.

This Order amends the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 1992 and the New Firefighters' Pension Scheme (England) Order 2006 by correcting dates in Schedule 6 (pensionable service and transfer values), specifically changing '1st July 2000' to '7th April 2000' in two sub-paragraphs of paragraph 7, Part 4. The changes take effect from 1st October 2023 and apply to England only.

This is a narrow technical amendment correcting a date discrepancy in firefighters' pension scheme rules. Deleting it would revert to incorrect dates, potentially harming firefighters by creating administrative confusion and calculation errors in pensionable service determinations. The amendment does not expand regulatory scope or impose new burdens—it merely corrects an established date for administrative accuracy within an existing scheme structure. While the ideological preference would be to reduce public sector pension obligations, this amendment per se does not worsen the position of private actors or add regulatory costs; rather it fixes a likely clerical error in the underlying scheme.

The Court Funds (Amendment) Rules 2023 amend the Court Funds Rules 2011 to introduce electronic means for depositing funds in court, requesting payments, and filing associated documentation. Key changes include: new definitions for 'electronic request' and electronic authentication; insertion of Rule 6A (electronic deposit procedures) and Rule 22A (electronic payment procedures); updates to interest accrual dates (31 March/September and 31 May/November instead of last Fridays); renaming of certain courts; and amendments to cross-references from 'Part 36' to 'rule 37.3'. The rules primarily modernize administrative court fund processes by creating optional electronic alternatives to paper-based procedures.

These are procedural court administration rules governing how parties deposit funds in court and receive payments. Deletion would create operational chaos in the court system. The changes add electronic options rather than restricting existing ones, reducing administrative burden on users. This is basic judicial administration that cannot be achieved through private alternatives — court funds require a trusted institutional mechanism, and these rules provide the procedural framework for that function. The alternative of abolishing court fund management entirely would leave no lawful mechanism for court-ordered fund handling.

Commencement regulations bringing specific provisions of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 into force on 28th September 2023, including: detention period limits (s.12), electronic device搜查 powers (s.15/Sch.2 for regulations), inadmissibility rules (s.59 for regulations), safe and legal route caps (s.60), reporting requirements (s.61), and credibility assessment provisions (s.62).

This commencement regulation activates some of the most coercive elements of the Illegal Migration Act without independent justification. The detention powers, electronic device搜查 authorities, and credibility testing mechanisms it enables represent unjustified state coercion that restricts individual liberty andLABOUR market flexibility. The 'safe and legal routes' cap imposes government rationing where market mechanisms and voluntary association should prevail. Deleting this regulation would prevent the imposition of these controls on prospective migrants and preserve Britain's historical openness to movement and opportunity.

The Alcohol Licensing (Coronavirus) (Regulatory Easements) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 extend COVID-19 era licensing easements, replacing the expiry date of 30 September 2023 with 31 March 2025 for provisions allowing licensed premises to conduct off-sales of alcohol. It modifies section 11(13) of the Business and Planning Act 2020 and section 172F(10)(d)(i) of the Licensing Act 2003.

This regulation perpetuates temporary COVID-19 emergency measures into what is now a permanent feature of alcohol licensing. Originally designed as a limited intervention to help businesses during lockdowns, these easements have been repeatedly extended (now to 2025) with no clear justification for why markets cannot function without them. The underlying Licensing Act 2003 is itself a regulatory burden on the alcohol industry — these easements merely modify that burden rather than removing it. Extension of this regulation delays necessary reform and signals that emergency interventions become permanent fixtures rather than being allowed to expire as intended.

This is a commencement order that brings Section 33 of the Building Act 1984 (tests for conformity with building regulations) into force on 1st October 2023 in England. Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

This is a procedural commencement order that merely activates an existing statutory provision. The Order itself imposes no regulatory burden—it simply exercises a routine administrative function to bring Section 33 into operation. Deleting it would create legal uncertainty and gaps in the building regulatory framework without any corresponding economic benefit.

These Regulations bring into force provisions of the Building Safety Act 2022 on 1st October 2023, including duties on building control authorities, competence requirements, reporting obligations, compliance notices, and appeals machinery. They contain extensive transitional provisions preserving the old Building Act 1984 regime for existing plans, initial notices, and building work deposited before 1st October 2023, with various savings lasting until April 2024 and October 2024. They also address the transition from 'approved inspectors' to 'registered building control approvers'.

This is a commencement and transitional regulation that merely implements Parliament's existing legislation. Deleting it would create legal chaos, leaving the Building Safety Act 2022 partially uncommenced and leaving ongoing building projects in regulatory limbo. The transitional provisions protect existing rights and provide legal certainty for projects already underway. While the underlying Building Safety Act represents expanded regulatory requirements, this instrument contains no independent regulatory burden—it is pure administrative machinery for an existing Act.

Amends the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Auctioning Regulations 2021 to adjust allowance calculations for the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. Modifies base allowance figures, introduces a new variable 'T', updates hospital and small emitter reduction factors for 2021-2030, adjusts the flexible share from 40,984,970 to 28,081,237 allowances, and makes technical amendments related to free allocation for 2024-2025 scheme years involving lime and malt extract industries.

Perpetuates government control over carbon market allocation mechanisms rather than allowing market prices to emerge organically. The regulation layers additional technical complexity onto an already interventionist system, extending bureaucratic discretion over industrial emission allowances. From a Mises/Hayek perspective, this represents central planning masquerading as a market mechanism—the detailed tabular specification of allowance quantities removes market discovery of price and quantity. The 2021 regulations already represent retained EU law that should be critically reviewed; this amendment doubles down on that approach by adding further prescriptive rules rather than liberalising the scheme.

An Order of Council approving miscellaneous amendments to the Health and Care Professions Council rules, extending across all UK jurisdictions and coming into force on 9th November 2023. The Order ratifies rules contained in a Schedule, but the actual substantive amendments are not included in this citation.

This is merely a formal procedural Order approving a Schedule of rule changes — the actual substantive regulatory amendments in the Schedule are not provided. Without the Schedule content, proper cost-benefit analysis is impossible, but the HCPC's registration and fitness-to-practice regime inherently restricts supply of health and care professionals by creating barriers to entry. Professional regulation of this kind historically demonstrates registration requirements that inflate costs, reduce competition, and protect incumbent professionals rather than patients. A 'miscellaneous amendment' Order of this kind, lacking the Schedule's substance, should be deleted and replaced with transparent primary legislation that allows proper parliamentary scrutiny of each regulatory change rather than blanket approval of undisclosed rule modifications.

This Order appoints 30th September 2023 as the day on which sections 101 and 102 of the Finance Act 2009 come into force, fully activating the economic crime (anti-money laundering) levy and associated penalty provisions. The levy applies to specified entities within the cryptoasset sector and other relevant businesses, requiring them to pay contributions to fund anti-money laundering efforts.

The AML levy imposes sector-specific costs that effectively extract resources from businesses to fund government anti-money laundering activities—a function that should be financed through general taxation. Dedicated levies on specific industries create distortive effects, raise compliance costs, and may disadvantage UK-based firms relative to competitors in jurisdictions without equivalent charges. This Order simply activates a levy mechanism rather than addressing underlying AML concerns, meaning the desired outcome (combating economic crime) could be achieved through more efficient, less distortive means. Furthermore, such targeted taxation on emerging sectors like cryptoassets may drive innovation and investment elsewhere, harming Britain's competitiveness as a financial centre.

These regulations amend multiple armed forces pension schemes (AFPS 1975, AFPS 2005, AFPS 2015, EDP Scheme, Reserve Forces pension schemes) to implement the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 (PSPJOA 2022) 'McCloud remedy'. They introduce 'remediable service' provisions allowing affected members to make section 6 or section 10 elections to remedy unlawful age discrimination in public sector pension schemes, extend transition dates to 1st April 2022 for remedy members, and insert new schedules governing how remediable service is treated across these pension instruments.

Without these regulations, remedy members who suffered discrimination under the previous pension schemes would have no statutory pathway to correct the unlawful treatment Parliament has already determined must be remedied. The PSPJOA 2022 represents a democratic mandate to address this discrimination. While the regulatory framework is complex, deletion would not simplify the underlying issue—it would merely shift the resolution to more costly litigation and retrospective remedies. Britons with remediable service would be worse off as they would lack the structured, statutory mechanism these regulations provide to rectify their pension entitlements.