Recommendation 4

The loss of access to EU systems and lack of progress in taking forward the regulatory cooperation provisions set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement increase regulatory risks and costs. On leaving the EU, the regulators lost access to EU data sharing and cooperation arrangements. CMA can no longer share confidential information with the European Commission or member states in merger, competition or consumer enforcement cases, impacting its ability to effectively enforce competition law. FSA has also lost full access to the EU’s Rapid Alert System on Food and Feed (RASFF) which provides member states with information on food safety incidents, increasing the time and effort it takes to deal with food safety incidents. HSE no longer has access to the chemical safety data underpinning the EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations. Industry has estimated it will cost £800 million to replicate this data in the UK REACH system. The regulators are taking action to mitigate these issues, but in some instances the alternatives are more time consuming and are likely to increase costs over time. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) recognises the value of voluntary cooperation on chemical regulation and includes provisions to establish a separate agreement on competition enforcement cooperation (including the sharing of confidential data). We are disappointed that no progress has been made in taking these issues forward, despite the regulators willingness to do so. Recommendation: The regulators should work together to share good practice on mitigations to address the loss of regulatory cooperation arrangements with the EU and write to the Committee in six months setting out progress in taking forward the cooperation arrangements set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.