Jurisdiction: UK

Commencement: Section 59 of the Act will commence on Royal Assent (17th December 2020). The other provisions will commence on the day or days appointed by regulations.

Amends: New Legislation
Mini Summary

This Act ensures businesses can continue to trade goods freely and effectively across the United Kingdom following the departure from the European Union.

Summary
As the United Kingdom (UK) has left the European Union (EU), this Act is introduced to ensure businesses can continue to trade goods freely and effectively across the UK.

The Act establishes two principles that apply to goods and services which are known as the ‘Market Access Principles‘:

The market access principles allow organisations to trade without additional barriers based on which UK nation they are in. They also provide access of qualifying goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

This entry focuses on the parts of the Act that relate to the environment; specifically this relates to the exclusions from mutual recognition and non-discrimination for goods.
Exclusions
There are certain specific exclusions from mutual recognition and non-discrimination for goods. An exclusion is a policy area, area of regulation or type of relevant requirement that is not subject to the principles. These areas can be updated and changed in the future if required in response to changes in market conditions.

Schedule 1 of the Act lists certain areas of exclusion from either or both Market Access Principles. The areas that are excluded from mutual recognition and relate to environmental management are:

The area excluded from both mutual recognition and non-discrimination that relates to environmental management is sanitary and phytosanitary measures relating to serious threats to animal and plant health. This ensures that the measures can be implemented, to take account of differences in pest and disease prevalence across the UK. Any measure falling under this exclusion needs to be supported by a risk assessment demonstrating the measure was reasonable and justified.
Duties
There are no direct compliance duties for organisations in this Act.

 

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Jurisdiction: EU

Commencement: 1st January 2021

Amends: Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC) No 842/2006
Mini Summary
Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 sets out the requirements around fluorinated greenhouse gases, including rules around production, import, use, recovery and disposal.
Amendment
New reference values are introduced for producers and importers which have placed hydrofluorocarbons on the market in the Union from 1st January 2015.

The previous reference values expire on 31st December 2020. The new reference values will run from the period 1st January 2021 until 31st December 2023.

The reference values for each importer and producer have not been published publicly due to being commercially sensitive information.

 

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