Date laid: 5 November 2018
Sifting period ends: 23 November 2018
1.The purpose of these draft Regulations, laid by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as a proposed negative, is to ensure that the UK’s company law framework can operate effectively after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The instrument forms part of the Department’s contingency preparations for a ‘no deal’ exit. While the Department asserts that the instrument seeks to preserve the company law framework unchanged as far as possible and appropriate, some of the proposed changes nevertheless appear to be significant. The Committee notes that the Explanatory Memorandum provides limited information on the expected impact of some the changes, in particular the proposed revocation of regulations underpinning the current European Economic Area cross-border mergers regime.
2.Given the importance of the draft Regulations for the continued and effective operability of the UK company law framework after exit, the House may expect the opportunity to debate the instrument. We therefore recommend that this instrument should be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.