Browse regulations

The Town and Country Planning (Spatial Development Strategy) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 temporarily modified two spatial development strategy regulations (for London and Combined Authorities) to allow digital/online publication and inspection of documents instead of physical locations during COVID-19. The 'relevant period' ran from 12th August 2020 to 31st December 2020. Transitional provisions addressed post-period obligations but these have long since been discharged.

This regulation was explicitly time-limited and emergency-focused, enacted solely to address COVID-19 disruption. Its relevant period (12th August 2020 to 31st December 2020) has long since expired. The modifications were always intended as temporary measures allowing digital alternatives to physical inspection requirements during lockdown. All transitional provisions have been completed or are now moot. Keeping an expired, purpose-specific COVID emergency instrument on the books serves no ongoing regulatory function and adds unnecessary legislative clutter. The underlying planning regime it modified continues to exist and operate under the original regulations.

Commencement regulations bringing into force provisions of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, including: section 12 (abolition/restriction of powers to obtain communications data), section 243 (Investigatory Powers Tribunal functions), Schedule 2 (abolition of disclosure powers), and Schedule 10 containing various repeals of prior statutory provisions. These are technical implementing measures for previously enacted primary legislation.

This regulation implements restrictions on surveillance powers, not expansions. It abolishes disclosure powers and restricts powers to obtain communications data—actions that reduce rather than increase state intrusion. Deleting it would leave gaps in the legal framework and potentially revert to older, less transparent surveillance regimes. While the IPA 2016 remains controversial, this particular commencement order effectuates reductions in investigatory powers already passed by Parliament.

This Order amends the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust (Establishment) Order 1992 to rename the trust 'Portsmouth Hospitals University National Health Service Trust', update board composition to include a director from the University of Portsmouth, remove obsolete provisions related to the trust's operational date, and make technical corrections to accounting date references.

This instrument merely reorganises governance of an existing NHS Trust and removes obsolete provisions that no longer apply to an operational entity. It does not expand regulatory scope, impose new compliance burdens, restrict competition, or impede private healthcare provision. Britons would be worse off if deleted because the trust requires this legal framework to function, and the amendment actually reduces bureaucratic friction by eliminating outdated 'operational date' provisions that served no purpose for an already-operational trust.

These Regulations amend the Plant Breeders' Rights (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to replace 'exit day' references with 'IP completion day' and make further modifications to the treatment of existing EU plant variety rights. Key changes include: revised treatment of existing EU rights (continuation, cancellation, nullity procedures), introduction of an exhaustion of rights provision (Regulation 8A), and modifications to application procedures and timelines for UK plant breeders' rights derived from EU applications.

This regulation ports the EU's plant breeders' rights system into UK law with no democratic review of whether the original EU framework benefited Britain. The complex provisions governing existing EU rights create legal uncertainty through layered transitional periods, administrative procedures, and conditional treatments based on concurrent EU proceedings. Regulation 8A's exhaustion of rights provision restricts rights holders' ability to control downstream use of propagating material, reducing the incentive structure the regulation purports to protect. Rather than establishing a lean, Brit-centric system befitting the world's most dynamic free-trading nation, this regulation preserves EU bureaucratic complexity, including gold-plated procedures for cancellation, nullity, and application processing that add cost with unclear benefit.

UK Statutory Instrument granting TEC Partnership (a further education college consortium) competence to award foundation degree awards (Aug 2020-Oct 2024) and bachelor's degree awards (Aug 2021-Oct 2024) under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

This instrument expired on 31 October 2024 and is therefore moot. Even setting aside obsolescence, degree-awarding powers represent state-granted monopolies that restrict educational competition — the Office for Students regulatory framework unnecessarily limits which institutions may confer degrees, artificially restricting supply and entrenching barriers for alternative providers like TEC Partnership. The fixed-term nature of this Order (4 years) suggests it was always intended as a provisional arrangement, and its expiration renders it a dead letter on the statute book.

Extends the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 to British overseas territories listed in Schedule 1, with modifications specified in Schedule 2. Applies select provisions of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (sections 44, 52(3), and 53) to those territories for compliance purposes.

Sanctions are coercive restrictions on voluntary trade that distort market signals and often fail to achieve their stated human rights objectives while harming ordinary citizens in target countries more than their regimes. This Order extends an already questionable compliance burden to overseas territories, adding regulatory complexity and cost for businesses. The extraterritorial application of sanctions creates legal uncertainty and compliance overhead that disproportionately disadvantages smaller firms and deters investment. As a retained EU law that was never subject to democratic scrutiny in Parliament, it represents the exact bureaucratic inheritance this review seeks to address.

This Order specifies certain Scottish Minister functions under NHS Scotland Acts for the purposes of section 93(1) of the Scotland Act 1998 (agency arrangements), limited to coronavirus-related mobile application software developed by or on behalf of the Secretary of State. The specified functions include general health duties, infectious disease control, and public health protection under five provisions of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 and Public Health (Scotland) Act 2008. The app functions covered include symptom reporting, test requests, exposure notifications, and health advice.

Emergency pandemic legislation enacted under exceptional conditions without adequate parliamentary scrutiny. The contact tracing apps this enabled were widely criticised for limited efficacy, privacy concerns, and technical failures - with many countries abandoning similar apps. The Scottish Ministers' substantive functions remain intact; this Order merely specified them for agency arrangements relating to UK government-developed software. Post-pandemic, this statutory instrument serves no ongoing purpose and represents the kind of emergency overreach that becomes permanently embedded unless deliberately removed. Removing it does not diminish Scottish public health powers - it merely deletes an unnecessary bureaucratic linkage to a specific technology that failed to deliver its promises.

This Order specifies functions of the Scottish Ministers under various NHS and public health Scotland Acts that can be exercised in connection with the Joint Biosecurity Centre, for coronavirus pandemic coordination purposes. It covers sections of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 and Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 relating to general health duties, health improvement, infectious disease control, and public health protection.

COVID-era temporary coordination mechanism that is now obsolete. The Joint Biosecurity Centre was established for the coronavirus pandemic and has been wound down. This Order served a specific emergency purpose that no longer exists. Retaining it on the statute book creates unnecessary administrative complexity and potential scaffolding for future emergency measures without democratic scrutiny. The underlying health functions remain with Scottish Ministers regardless of this specification.

The National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020 amends the 1999 Order to clarify that the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 does not apply to individuals employed on ships exercising the right of innocent passage or transit passage under UNCLOS 1982, while preserving section 40's application to UK-registered ships.

This amendment actually reduces regulatory scope by excluding certain offshore employment from minimum wage requirements during specific maritime passage scenarios. Minimum wage laws distort labor markets by setting prices above equilibrium, reducing employment opportunities for lower-skilled workers. For ships in innocent transit passage, imposing UK employment costs could drive business to other jurisdictions. The amendment merely clarifies exemptions aligned with international law rather than expanding worker protections — if such protections were genuinely beneficial, they would be negotiated voluntarily in employment contracts. This Order represents the kind of regulatory complexity that should be swept away in post-Brexit deregulation.

Order enabling virtual meetings of legislative bodies in the Falkland Islands and St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, providing that such meetings have the same legal validity as physical meetings and applying quorum and voting rules to virtual participation.

Unnecessary Westminster overreach into Overseas Territories' internal governance. The determination of how legislative bodies meet and conduct proceedings should be a matter for each Territory's own constitutional arrangements, not mandated by UK secondary legislation. This Order imposes a one-size-fits-all approach on two distinct territories with different constitutional histories and governance traditions. The legal certainty it provides could be achieved through local legislation if the Territories themselves desired it. Furthermore, the pandemic-era necessity that prompted this measure has passed, making its continued existence redundant.

These regulations, made in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, allow developers with annual turnover up to £45 million to request deferral of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments if experiencing coronavirus-related financial difficulties. They establish a 40-day decision process, maximum 6-month deferral periods, suspension of late payment surcharges/interest during consideration, and provision for crediting accrued interest against CIL amounts. The 'material period' runs from the regulations' commencement until July 31, 2021.

These regulations were a temporary COVID-19 emergency relief measure with a defined end date of July 31, 2021. As of March 2026, the material period has long expired and the regulation serves no ongoing function. While one might argue CIL itself is problematic (a tax on development that adds to housing costs), this amendment merely provided temporary relief rather than addressing fundamental issues. Keeping expired, superseded regulations clutters the statute book and creates confusion. For regulatory housekeeping purposes and to restore Britain's position as a dynamic free-trading nation, this spent coronavirus measure should be removed.

Amends the Friendly Societies Act 1992 to require charity-friendly societies to use Friendly Societies Act accounting standards instead of IAS standards. Introduces a 5-year lock-in period before societies can switch back to Friendly Societies Act accounts from IAS accounts, with exceptions for 'relevant change of circumstance'. Also applies similar restrictions to group accounts.

This regulation restricts friendly societies' choice of accounting frameworks through an arbitrary 5-year lock-in mechanism that serves no clear public benefit. The amendment constrains societies from adapting their financial reporting to changing circumstances, imposing unnecessary compliance rigidity on what are typically small, member-owned organisations. Such prescriptive rules governing internal account preparation represent the kind of bureaucratic micro-management that adds cost without corresponding benefit. The retention of these EU-derived accounting standards without democratic review exemplifies the regulatory burden this agency seeks to address.

Post-Brexit statutory instrument that amends Air Traffic Management regulations to replace EU-centric references (Single European Sky airspace, Member States) with UK-specific references (Secretary of State, references to retained Regulation (EC) No 551/2004). Also omits regulation 288 and makes minor technical corrections.

This regulation merely performs cosmetic reference corrections to existing EU-derived air traffic regulations. It does not reduce regulatory burden—it preserves the entire Single European Sky regulatory framework on UK statute books. The underlying Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 remains intact, having been retained post-Brexit. The substitution of 'Member States' with 'The Secretary of State' transfers powers upward rather than eliminating them. Omitting regulation 288 is the only potentially beneficial change, but the core regulatory structure remains. This is regulatory housekeeping that maintains the status quo rather than advancing free-market principles or reducing the bureaucratic burden on Britain's aviation sector.

This Order amends the Safety of Sports Grounds (Designation) Order 2015 to update the schedules of designated sports grounds. It removes Zebra Claims Stadium (Workington Town) from Schedule 1, and in Schedule 2 removes Cherry Red Records Stadium (A.F.C. Wimbledon's old ground) while adding Plough Lane (their new stadium) and Holker Street for Barrow A.F.C. Essentially an administrative update reflecting stadium changes.

This amendment simply corrects the designation records to reflect actual stadium changes. Without these updates, the wrong venues would be subject to safety certification requirements, potentially creating safety risks and administrative confusion. While the underlying Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 imposes costs on clubs, this specific instrument improves accuracy rather than adding regulatory burden. Deleting it would leave the 2015 Order with incorrect stadium information, which would harm both regulatory accuracy and safety monitoring.

The Railways (Miscellaneous Amendments, Revocations and Transitional Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 is a Brexit implementation statutory instrument that: (1) amends the Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 to replace EU agency references with their post-Brexit UK equivalents; (2) replaces 'exit day' references with 'IP completion day' across numerous railway regulations; (3) revokes Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 concerning a European Rail Network for competitive freight; (4) partially revokes the 2019 EU ECM Regulation save for cross-border Channel Tunnel services; (5) introduces new definitions and requirements for cross-border railway services through the Channel Tunnel.

While this regulation is retained EU law that was never properly scrutinized by Parliament, deletion would create regulatory chaos. The railway safety framework requires legal foundations, and removing this instrument without replacement would leave gaps in the regulatory structure. The partial revocation of the European Rail Network regulation is a genuine improvement, and the保留了 cross-border provisions for Channel Tunnel services reflect legitimate safety requirements that cannot be eliminated without替代方案. This instrument is more surgical than most Brexit SIs—revoking one unnecessary EU regulation while maintaining necessary safety infrastructure.