EUDUG General Meeting
30 November 2021, online
The EU Databases User Group held a meeting for its members on 30 November 2021, at which short talks were given on three topics: tracking EU delegated and implementing legislation, the new EU module of Lexis PSL, and Parliament’s EU Future Relationship Digest.
At the end of the meeting, the Chair of EUDUG, Margaret Watson, announced that the Committee has co-opted a new member, Frederico Rocha, manager of the European Documentation Centre at Cardiff University and editor of European Sources Online.
Tracking tools for delegated and implementing acts
Vicky Marissen, Partner, EPPA
Vicky Marissen gave a practical overview of the various EU information sources for researching delegated and implementing acts. Each year the EU passes approximately sixty to seventy legislative acts each year, and about 2,500 delegated and implementing measures. Delegated and implementing acts are made under the authority of legislative acts, and they contain detailed provisions, for example, the authorisation of Covid vaccines is done by means of implementing acts.
The Register of Delegated and Implementing Acts, on the European Commission’s website, tracks the life-cycle of each delegated and implementing act and provides links to associated documents. There is a search facility for the whole register, but it is best to select the tab for the material you are interested in – delegated acts, implementing acts, legislative acts or expert group meetings – and then use the filters or search facilities on that tab.
The ‘Legislative acts’ tab covers directives, regulations and decisions which may require implementing legislation or supplementation by delegated acts. They can be filtered by policy area and other criteria, and/or searched by key word. For each legislative act (or ‘basic act’), the register details the delegated and implementing acts made with powers granted by the basic act, including their status (planned, adopted, scrutiny finished, and so on); it also reproduces the basic act’s empowerment provision.
The ‘Delegated acts’ tab opens the Interinstitutional Register of Delegated Acts, called ‘interinstitutional’ because it is a collaboration between the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU. Information about delegated acts can be filtered by policy area, phase of the procedure, and so on.
The ‘Expert group meetings’ tab has a calendar of meetings as well as filters by policy area and name of expert group. It gives the code for each expert group, which you can use to search the Commission’s Register of Expert Groups for further information; searching by code is more accurate than searching by the name of the group.
The ‘Expert group meetings’ tab has a calendar of meetings as well as filters by policy area and name of expert group. It gives the code for each expert group, which you can use to search the Commission’s Register of Expert Groups for further information; searching by code is more accurate than searching by the name of the group.
The ‘Implementing acts’ tab has a search facility and offers filters by policy area, phase, date and other criteria. The separate Comitology Register is still the main source of information on the adoption of implementing acts, but it is best to use both the Comitology Register and the Register of Delegated and Implementing Acts to get a full picture. The Comitology Register covers measures subject to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS), which do not feature on the Register of Delegated and Implementing Acts. The Comitology Register has been improved but is still not easy to use. Users can search by committee code, committee name, or ‘Service responsible’ (meaning Commission directorate general or other EU body).
The Commission’s ‘Have Your Say’ website includes details of consultations regarding delegated and implementing acts. After clicking on ‘All initiatives’ on the Have Your Say home page, users can select the type of act they wish to view.
Lexis PSL: EU module
Katherine Llewellyn, Head of Commercial & Sectors Group, Lexis PSL
Katherine Llewellyn introduced the new EU module of Lexis PSL and her colleague, Elise Van Sant, gave a demonstration.
The EU module of Lexis PSL was launched in June 2021, to respond to changing information needs as a result of the UK’s new relationship with the European Union. The focus is on EU law as it continues to apply in the EU. The module aims to provide information for UK-based practitioners who are still working with the EU and people who continue to do business in Europe.
The EU home page has a search facility, links to toolkits and trackers, and three tabs: News, Topics and Key Resources.
The News tab covers developments regarding EU law from all the EU institutions. Users can subscribe to a daily email alert or weekly update.
The Topics tab allows users to browse by policy area and also offers a Key Developments and Materials page, an EU Fundamentals page and a set of country guides. Each topic – for example, Commercial – is subdivided. The content for each topic or sub-topic includes trackers, practice notes explaining the key legislation, and briefings on specific points; there is also news for each practice area.
The Key Developments and Materials page provides an EU glossary; trackers for legislative initiatives (for example, the EU Digital Markets Act), cases and policy areas; and a set of introductory practice notes. The EU Fundamentals page explains the structure of the EU, the EU judicial system, key principles (such as the direct and indirect effect of EU law), and the EU legislative process.
The Key Resources tab on the EU homepage includes a Brexit Toolkit and a Brexit Transition Hub, with information about retained EU law. There is also an International Trade section here, with a guide to the WTO and other content.
There is still some EU information in other PSL modules: for example, the Competition module and the Financial Services module include EU information, as these subjects still have substantial EU aspects. PSL content may appear in more than one module, and every document is tagged to show which module/s it belongs to.
Keeping people informed post-Brexit
Simon Horswell, EU Future Relationship Liaison Manager, House of Commons
Simon Horswell began working on EU matters at the House of Commons in April 2021, having previously dealt with devolution. He manages the two-person Brexit Hub in the Commons Select Committee Team. He edits both internal and external communications relating to Brexit, and one of his key responsibilities is the production of the EU Future Relationship Digest, a weekly email update; he also delivers Brexit training to parliamentary staff.
The EU Future Relationship Digest is an informal summary of Brexit-related developments, and it goes out every Monday morning. Anyone can sign up to receive it (https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/subscribe/). The digest covers activities in Parliament in the last seven days, for example, a recent issue talked about sessions of the Public Accounts Committee examining the operation of the UK-EU border, among other things. There is also a ‘Looking ahead’ section, highlighting forthcoming events, and other sections devoted to recent committee activities and publications, with links to reports, press releases, official correspondence and other documents.
Under the heading ‘Key dates for 2021/22” there is information about the evolution of the UK-EU relationship as well as details of Westminster activities. There is a full list of Commons debates, statements and committee sessions in the coming week, with links to further information. The work of other bodies, such as the House of Lords and the Scottish Parliament, is also covered. A list of the many current Brexit-related select committee inquiries was added to the digest at the request of subscribers. Finally, the digest summarises any new House of Commons Library briefings, for example, a recent briefing on article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Parliament website provides a range of Brexit and future relationship resources. These include the House of Commons Library’s Brexit research collection, a treaty tracker, and a future relationship reading list which gives an overview of publications by the UK Parliament and devolved parliaments/assemblies.
In answer to a question about EU-related parliamentary committees, Simon explained that there used to be an Exiting the European Union Committee, which became the Future Relationship Committee and has now been disbanded. The House of Commons European Scrutiny Select Committee is still operating, looking at the impact of EU initiatives on the UK, and the House of Lords still has a European Union Select Committee.
EU Databases User Group (EUDUG) 