Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what parts of the Government’s plan for state aid in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Following the no-deal technical notice published on 23rd August 2018, the Government laid the draft State Aid (EU Exit) Regulations on 21 January 2019. The draft Regulations make amendments to the retained EU law on State Aid, where appropriate to correct deficiencies, in accordance with the powers in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. These draft Regulations transfer the State Aid regulatory functions of the European Commission to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The draft Regulations were approved in the House of Lords on 14 March and debated by the Delegated Legislation Committee in the House of Commons on 10 April. No date has yet been set for the final approval motion.
The CMA has already recruited and trained the staff that it considers necessary to start operating the regime at the point this is required.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what parts of the Government’s plan for workplace rights in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government’s plan for workplace rights in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal has been implemented.
We laid no deal Employment Rights SIs earlier this year. These SIs were passed on 4th March 2019 and will come into effect on exit day in the event of no-deal. These SIs ensure that we are upholding the commitment not to roll back workers’ rights as we leave the EU.
The Government has prepared guidance for businesses and individuals to help prepare for a no-deal exit from the EU. This includes guidance on employment rights. All guidance for a no deal scenario is published on the internet: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-to-prepare-if-the-uk-leaves-the-eu-with-no-deal
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what parts of the Government’s plan for satellites and space programmes in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government remains focused on ensuring a smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a negotiated agreement. However, as a responsible Government, we have actively prepared for every eventuality, including a ‘No Deal’ scenario.
The technical notice published by the Government on satellites and space programmes, set out information to allow the space sector to understand what actions would be required in a ‘No Deal’ scenario. The UK Space Agency are developing options to maintain UK capability and support the space sector, including the assessment of options for the design and development of a UK global satellite navigation system as a potential alternative to the EU’s Galileo space programme.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for patents in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
As set out in the technical notice, the Government’s primary goal is to ensure that the UK patent system continues to function effectively in the event of a no deal exit. This requires a small amount of legislative change. In February 2019, Parliament approved the Patents (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which corrected deficiencies in retained EU law relating to patents. The Government has since published guidance for business on these changes. It continues to engage with stakeholders on the impacts of exit and preparation for a no deal scenario.
A further statutory instrument is required to address inoperabilities in a new piece of patents-related EU legislation which entered into force earlier this month. A public call for views on the drafting of this instrument opened on 5 July 2019.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for trademarks and design in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The main plank of preparation for no deal was legislation to ensure the continued protection of registered EU trade marks and designs, and to correct deficiencies in, and failures of, retained EU law to ensure it operates effectively after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
Parliament approved the Trade Marks (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations, and the Designs and International Trade Marks (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations earlier this year. The Government has since published further guidance for businesses and consumers. It continues to engage with stakeholders on the impacts of exit and preparation for a no deal scenario.
The IPO has also completed a significant programme of work to ensure that its systems are ready to accommodate the additional requirements resulting from the legislation.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department's Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, which parts of the Government’s plan for geo-blocking online content in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government’s plan for geo-blocking online content in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal has been implemented through the Geo-Blocking Regulation (Revocation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which were made on 18 April 2019. These Regulations will come into effect on Exit Day as defined in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, section 20.
Guidance for businesses has also been published, in the form of the following technical notice: ‘Geo-blocking of online content if there’s no Brexit deal’. This was published on 12 October 2018 and is available at this link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/geo-blocking-of-online-content-if-theres-no-brexit-deal.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department's Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, which parts of the Government’s plan for nuclear research in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government has taken significant steps to protect UK leadership in nuclear R&D in the event of a no deal.
Key bilateral agreements have been put in place to facilitate continued research collaboration with countries including Canada and the USA, and a major funding extension (until the end of 2020) for the UK-based JET fusion research facility has been agreed with the European Commission. Similarly, the executive council of the France-based ITER fusion project agreed in November 2018 to maintain UK employment and commercial contracts until their agreed end date in a no deal.
Successful, competitive UK funding bids submitted under the Euratom Research & Training Programme before the end of 2020 have also been guaranteed by the UK Government, and close working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is ongoing to ensure we are ready to deliver this funding from exit day if required.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for copyright in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Copyright is largely harmonised internationally by a number of treaties to which the UK is signatory. This means that much of the copyright framework in the UK is not dependent on membership of the EU and will remain intact when we leave.
However, some UK copyright law is derived from the EU copyright framework; hence there are references in UK law to the “EU”, the “EEA”, and “Member States”. Some of these references arise from the UK’s implementation of certain EU cross-border copyright mechanisms. These are unique to the EU and provide reciprocal protections and benefits between Member States, covering areas such as cross-border portability of online content services, sui generis database rights, and copyright clearance for satellite broadcasting.
To ensure UK copyright law functions properly if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Government introduced The Intellectual Property (Copyright and Related Rights) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. This removes or corrects references to the EU, EEA, or Member States in UK copyright legislation to preserve the effect of UK law where possible. For reciprocal cross-border mechanisms where continuing to extend provisions to the EU on a unilateral basis after exit would adversely affect those in the UK, we are limiting the mechanisms to operate on a purely domestic basis or bringing them to an end, as appropriate. Guidance for stakeholders has been published alongside this.
Although the UK is leaving the EU, UK and EU copyright works (e.g. books, films and music) will continue to be protected in the EU and UK respectively because of the international treaties on copyright (e.g. the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement), which require all treaty countries to protect works originating in any other treaty country to a minimum standard. Our participation in these treaties does not depend on our membership of the EU.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for exhaustion of intellectual property rights in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
In preparation for a no deal Brexit, the Government prepared secondary legislation to provide for a temporary unilateral EEA exhaustion regime. The Intellectual Property (Exhaustion of Rights) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 was approved by Parliament in February 2019.
The Government also published guidance, in the form of a technical notice on GOV.UK in September 2018 for businesses and consumers to prepare for a no deal scenario.
The Government continues to engage with stakeholders on this issue in preparation for a possible no deal Brexit.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by his Department, what parts of the plan for accounting and audit in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
If the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement, UK registered auditors will be treated largely as third country auditors in the EEA. Similarly, UK companies will be treated largely as third country companies for accounting and audit purposes. EEA auditors and EEA companies in the UK will also be treated as third country auditors and third country companies in the UK under changes that will be made effective in part through amendments to UK legislation. However, the UK Government has put in place a framework that will allow some continuing market access for EEA auditors to the UK for a limited period in order to provide continuity for businesses in the period following the UK’s exit.
The Government’s technical notice on accounting and audit if there is no Brexit deal sets out the implications of No Deal for businesses operating across the EU/UK border. Almost all the legislative changes referenced in this guidance have been made via:
- the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019;
- the Accounts and Reports (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019;
- the International Accounting Standards and European Public Limited-Liability Company (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.