Browse regulations

The Contracting Out (Functions of the Official Receiver) Order 1995 allows the Official Receiver to contract out insolvency functions to authorized persons or their employees, except those listed in a Schedule. It restricts the right of audience in court proceedings to those qualified under the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. The Order defines key terms including references to the Insolvency Act 1986, Companies Act 1985 (since repealed), and Insolvency Rules 1986.

This instrument is a relic of EU-era insolvency administration that has not been substantively reviewed since 1995. Critically, it references the Companies Act 1985 which was repealed and replaced by the Companies Act 2006, making its definitions partially obsolete. The Schedule of excepted functions creates a closed list that prevents adaptability to modern insolvency practices. Furthermore, it perpetuates a system where quasi-judicial insolvency functions can be delegated without competitive tendering requirements, limiting market efficiency. The Enterprise Act 2002 fundamentally reformed the insolvency landscape yet this Order was not updated to reflect those changes. The instrument should be repealed and replaced with modern, market-facing insolvency administration rules that allow genuine competition and avoid gold-plating EU directives on insolvency practitioner qualifications.

Amends the Building (Approved Inspectors etc.) Regulations 1985, making changes including: reducing certain timescales (regulations 8, 13); extending others (regulation 16); changing mandatory language 'shall' to discretionary 'may' (regulations 6, 17); adding underpinning as an exception (regulation 9); introducing new energy rating requirements for new dwellings created by building work or material change of use (new regulation 10A); and various deletions and renumbering. Contains transitional provisions for notices given before 1st July 1995.

While some amendments reduce burden (changing 'shall' to 'may', extending certain timescales), the regulation adds new energy rating requirements (regulation 10A) that impose compliance costs on builders and homeowners without clear market benefit. Energy performance certification is typically driven by market demand and existing property information mechanisms, not government mandate. The regulation exemplifies the EU-derived approach of requiring official approval procedures for information the market would naturally provide. The modest burden reductions in some areas do not justify retaining this additional compliance overhead.

Emergency order under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 prohibiting fishing, taking, moving, landing, supplying, or possessing scallops (Pecten Maximus and Chlamys Opercularis) from a designated area due to risk of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxin. The order creates criminal offences for various activities involving contaminated or potentially contaminated scallops from the specified area after 25th May 1995.

This regulation addresses an acute public health emergency involving a natural biotoxin that can cause fatal respiratory failure in humans. Unlike most regulations that distort market incentives or create unintended consequences, this is a genuine emergency measure protecting against imminent harm that cannot be adequately addressed through disclosure requirements or market mechanisms alone. The prohibition is narrowly targeted to a specific geographic area and product during a defined crisis period. While free trade principles are important, they do not require allowing the sale of foodstuffs known to be contaminated with a potentially lethal toxin. The original Food and Environment Protection Act framework appropriately balances precaution with proportionality.

This Act of Sederunt 1995 amends solicitor fee schedules in the Scottish Sheriff Court by: updating fee amounts in Chapters I-IV and VI of the Table of Fees; inserting a new £25 additional fee for court appearances due to time to pay directions; changing terminology from 'dues for deliverance' to 'fees'; and modifying outlay taxation rules by allowing claims up to £75 without taxation while requiring taxation for amounts exceeding that threshold. All amendments take effect from 22nd June 1995, with transitional provisions for prior work.

Fixed solicitor fee schedules in the Sheriff Court remove price competition, preventing solicitors from competing on fees and potentially limiting access to legal services. The £75 outlay threshold without taxation creates arbitrary complexity and reduces transparency. Court fee schedules of this type historically act as a floor that protects inefficient firms rather than benefiting clients. As a procedural rule governing professional fees rather than a regulation addressing genuine market failure, this represents the kind of bureaucratic price-setting that Adam Smith warned distorts natural market forces. The retention of these fee structures in statute rather than allowing market-determined pricing for legal services restricts both competition and consumer choice in the justice system.

Act of Sederunt amending Rules of the Court of Session 1994 regarding solicitor fees, modifying provisions on affidavit evidence fees for skilled/professional witnesses, and updating the Table of Fees in rule 42.16 with new fee amounts effective 22nd June 1995.

This is a procedural court fee amendment for the Scottish Court of Session. It does not impose regulatory burdens on trade, business competition, or market access. Rather, it updates and clarifies fee schedules for civil litigation, providing certainty for court users. Deletion would create ambiguity in litigation cost recovery and harm the efficient administration of justice.

The Vehicle Excise Duty (Designation of Small Islands) Order 1995 designates specific islands for the purpose of defining 'island goods vehicles' under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, thereby granting reduced or exempt vehicle excise duty to goods vehicles operating on these islands.

This regulation creates geographically-specific tax exemptions that distort the uniform application of vehicle excise duty, rewarding particular islands based on political designation rather than market principles. It adds complexity to the tax system, creates opportunities for political favoritism in determining which islands qualify, and represents the kind of EU-derived patchwork regulation that should be eliminated in post-Brexit Britain. If island communities require support, it should come through transparent direct subsidies rather than hidden tax carve-outs that undermine fiscal uniformity.

Amendment Regulations 1995 updating the Children (Secure Accommodation) Regulations 1991 by: (1) adding a definition of 'children's home' encompassing registered children's homes, community homes, and voluntary homes; (2) replacing references to 'community home' with 'children's home' throughout; (3) amending information and review provisions; (4) revoking the prohibition on voluntary homes and registered children's homes providing secure accommodation.

While most of this instrument is definitional cleanup, the revocation of regulation 18 removes a prohibition preventing voluntary homes and registered children's homes from providing secure accommodation. This expands the supply of secure accommodation providers, increasing competition and options for vulnerable children in care. Removing supply restrictions in this market benefits both children requiring care and the public finances that fund placements. The expansion of permissible providers serves both liberty and market efficiency.

The Feeding Stuffs Regulations 1995 establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for animal feed in Great Britain, implementing various EU directives. The regulations define key terms (feeding stuff, additive, compound feeding stuff, etc.), prescribe labeling and marking requirements, set compositional standards and compositional limits for undesirable substances, regulate additives and premixtures, prohibit certain materials from being used in feed (including waste materials, treated hides, and specific plant materials), establish enforcement mechanisms through inspectors, and modify definitions in the Agriculture Act 1970. The regulations also impose restrictions on imports from non-EU countries and establish requirements for feeding stuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes.

This regulation exemplifies the retained EU law problem: thousands of pages of EU-derived rules carried over wholesale without Parliamentary scrutiny. The prescriptive compositional limits, mandatory labeling formats, sealing requirements, and detailed additive authorisations impose substantial compliance costs on feed manufacturers while restricting market flexibility. Most critically, post-Brexit Britain should not be bound by rules designed for the EU's Common Agricultural Policy - rules that, as the ideology recognises, were frequently gold-plated by British civil servants adding costs without corresponding benefits. Feed safety concerns can be addressed through general food safety law, private contract, and market mechanisms rather than this detailed prescriptive regime that restricts what farmers and feed manufacturers may produce and sell.

The A41 Trunk Road (Detrunking of Slip Roads between the A41 and the A51, Chester) Order 1995 reclassifies specified slip roads from trunk road status to 'classified road' status, transferring management responsibility from the Secretary of State to local authorities. The Order came into force on 28th June 1995.

This regulation removes trunk road status from certain slip roads, thereby reducing central government control and returning these local highways to local authority management. Unlike most regulations that impose restrictions or costs, this Order deregulates by removing a classification that placed these roads under national rather than local jurisdiction. Britons are better off with local democratic accountability for smaller roads rather than central planning of highway classifications.

Emergency Order under Part I of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 prohibiting fishing, taking, moving, landing, or supplying scallops (Pecten Maximus and Chlamys Opercularis) from a designated coastal area due to contamination by paralytic shellfish poisoning toxin, which poses a hazard to human health if consumed.

Paralytic shellfish poisoning can cause respiratory paralysis and death within hours of consumption. The toxin is invisible, undetectable by consumers without laboratory testing, and can appear sporadically in shellfish from otherwise safe-looking waters. Unlike most regulations where costs are visible and benefits obscure, here the cost of deletion is Measurable: bodies. Market mechanisms cannot solve this problem because buyers cannot assess toxin contamination through observation, taste, or price signals alone. No private certification scheme can guarantee safety at the point of consumption for a perishable, fungible commodity. This is a genuine public health emergency measure with a specific, identified hazard—not bureaucratic overreach. Deleting it would result in preventable deaths with no offsetting economic benefit.

Amends the Companies (Fees) Regulations 1991 by inserting a new fee entry (20A) of £10.00 for a private company to apply under section 652A to have its name struck off the companies register.

This is a nominal administrative fee (£10) for a voluntary service - a company choosing to strike itself off the register. Without this fee provision, the underlying statutory mechanism for strike-off would remain, but the cost-recovery framework would be incomplete. The fee is minimal, nonburdensome, and represents cost recovery for an administrative function rather than a regulatory burden. Deleting it would not reduce compliance costs meaningfully but would create gaps in the fee structure for this service.

The Dual-Use and Related Goods (Export Control) (Amendment) Regulations 1995 amend the principal 1995 Regulations governing export controls on dual-use goods. They revoke certain definitions and provisions, insert references to EU Regulation requirements, modify licensing conditions, add provisions distinguishing 'goods in transit,' exclude the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1994 for dual-use goods, and update country restrictions in Schedule 3 (changing specified countries to 'except to Member States').

These regulations impose significant compliance costs on British exporters dealing in dual-use goods, create complex licensing bureaucracy, and represent EU-derived controls that should be reviewed rather than retained wholesale. While export controls serve legitimate security purposes, this amendment layer introduces additional restrictions and definitions without sufficient evidence the compliance burden produces proportionate security benefits. The 'goods in transit' exceptions and interactions with other orders create a patchwork regime that distorts trade flows and favors large firms with compliance departments over smaller exporters. As a 1995 regulation predating Brexit, it should be replaced with a simplified, UK-specific framework that targets genuine proliferation risks without the EU-derived complexity.

The Public Trustee (Fees) (Amendment) Order 1995 sets fees for the Public Trustee's registration and search services under the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994. It establishes a £20 fee for entering document details per deceased person per property, and a £10 fee per search name.

These are modest cost-recovery fees for a specific government service (Public Trustee estate registration/search functions). Unlike EU-derived regulations or gold-plated directives, this is domestic fee-setting for a service that actually benefits users who voluntarily seek it. Deletion would either eliminate a useful service or require cross-subsidy from general taxation—neither outcome improves welfare. The fees are low enough not to pose barriers to access.

A commencement order bringing specified provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 into force on 1st August 1995. The Schedule would detail which specific provisions are being activated. This is the twelfth commencement order for this 1970 Act, suggesting phased or delayed implementation over 25 years.

A commencement order activating 25-year-old provisions without the Schedule's details cannot be properly assessed. However, the fact that this is 'Commencement No. 12' for a 1970 Act indicates regulatory provisions that Parliament could not or would not bring into force for nearly three decades — a strong indicator of accumulated bureaucratic burden. Without specific cost-benefit analysis of what is being activated, these unseen costs (compliance burdens on shipping, port operations, and maritime commerce) must be presumed to exceed benefits that could have been achieved through simpler market mechanisms.

These Regulations, effective August 1995, define 'strategic ships' (certain fishing vessels, cruise ships, product tankers, and ro-ro ships) and require that the master of any strategic ship must be a Commonwealth citizen, EEA national, or national of a NATO member state (non-EEA). They sit alongside existing certification regulations for deck officers, marine engineer officers, and fishing vessel officers.

These nationality restrictions unnecessarily restrict the labor market for ship masters, artificially limiting the pool of qualified candidates to Commonwealth, EEA, or NATO nationals only. This raises labor costs for UK shipping operators, damages competitiveness against flags of convenience that hire purely on merit, and perpetuates protectionist preferences with no economic justification. Post-Brexit, retaining EEA preference is particularly anomalous. Qualified mariners from allied nations outside these groups (e.g., Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) are arbitrarily excluded despite identical or superior qualifications. A genuinely free-trading maritime nation would allow shipowners to hire masters based solely on competence and commercial considerations.