Medicinal and agrochemical products can be granted a Supplementary Protection Certificate, an intellectual property right associated with patents, to provide up to five years of additional rights and protections once their patents have expired. In order to apply for an SPC, a product must receive approval to be sold on the UK market. Under the Northern Ireland/Ireland Protocol, products to be sold in Northern Ireland must obtain approval under EU law, whilst products to be sold in the rest of the UK will obtain approval under UK law. Currently, this marketing authorisation is only given on a UK-wide basis. This regulation amends the market authorisation process to enable authorisations to be granted for the Northern Ireland market only and for the Great Britain market only.
Documents to download
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Brexit: Overseas Development Assistance (331 KB, PDF)
The UK Government is committed to spending 0.7 percent of the UK’s gross national income (GNI) on overseas aid; the target is written into the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015. The Government uses the definition of overseas aid developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, who use the term Overseas Development Assistance (ODA).
In 2016, the UK spent £13.4 billion on ODA. The UK channelled approximately £1.5 billion of ODA through the European Development Fund (EDF) and the development section of the EU budget. This represents approximately 11 percent of all UK ODA.
Following speculation in the wake of the 2016 referendum the Prime Minister, Theresa May, confirmed in April 2017 that the target of 0.7 percent on ODA would remain, but argued that the Government would need to “look at how that money will be spent and make sure that we are able to spend that money in the most effective way”. The Government will need to decide how to spend approximately £1.5 billion of ODA which is currently channelled through the EU. The implications for the EU, which faces a substantial drop in development resources post-Brexit are also the subject of some debate. Some commentators have suggested the UK could continue to play a role in EU development policy, for example through continued voluntary contributions to the EDF. The UK Government has stated that it would seek “a deep and special partnership with the EU that goes beyond existing third country arrangements” and would seek to collaborate on “a case-by-case basis […] [with aid] subject to UK’s standards on full transparency, accountability, risk and assurance, results and value for money”.
Documents to download
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Brexit: Overseas Development Assistance (331 KB, PDF)
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The Audiovisual Media Services (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 govern how on-demand programming and video-sharing platforms will be regulated after the Brexit transition period ends.
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The regulation of product safety, and weights and measures, is based on EU law. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 brings this EU law into UK statute, so that it will continue to have effect after the end of the transition period. Amendments since have made to enable this framework to operate smoothly in the UK, and added provisions such as a UK conformity mark. This article looks at a further statutory instrument that amends retained EU law in the area, particularly in light of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
