The Government launches their review of the UK Internal Market Act

The UK Government has decided to launch their review of the UK Internal Markets Act, and is seeking views on the current operation of the Act.

What is the UK Internal Market Act?

After the UK left the EU, the Johnson Government passed the UK Internal Market Act to ensure that goods could be sold across the United Kingdom’s internal market, even in instances where devolved governments diverge on regulation. The Act did this by establishing the following Market Access Principles:

Complying with regulations permitting the sale of goods or provision of services in one part of the UK will be considered as compliant with requirements across the UK. In other words, these principles mean that businesses only need to comply with a single set of regulations in order to trade freely across the whole of the UK.
Regulations permitting the sale of goods or provision of services in one part of the UK cannot discriminate against goods and services from another part of the UK.
Where individuals hold professional qualifications, the Act ensures that they may, by default, practice in other parts of the UK, with some exclusions and alternatives applying.

Some goods and services may be excluded from the market principles, meaning the market principles cannot be used to guarantee their right of sale in the rest of the UK. For example, when the Scottish Government banned certain single-use plastic products, the Scottish and UK governments negotiated a ban on the sale of single-use plastic products, in Scotland, that were legal in the rest of the UK but which had been banned by the new regulations. Otherwise, these single-use plastics could have been brought into Scotland from the rest of the UK and been sold freely under the Market Access Principles.

The Government has launched this review early because, in their own words: ‘there are strongly held views of some around the way that the UK Internal Market Act was previously managed and that businesses have been left with little time to adapt to new policies and changes.’

What the review covers (and does not cover)

The review covers certain aspects of Parts 1, 2 and 4 of the Act, which the Government is legally-required to review by December 2025. Parts 1 and 2 reviews relate to the use that has been made of certain powers conferred on the Secretary of State by the Act, while the Part 4 review relates to the arrangements for carrying out the functions set out in Part 4.

The Government are also seeking views on other, additional aspects of the Act. The areas the Government have flagged as being of particular interest include:

The market access principles for goods
Services and professional qualifications
The role of the Office for the Internal Market (OIM)
The process for exclusions from the market access principles.

The Government have been explicit about what will be excluded from this review. The review will therefore NOT consider:

Whether the Internal Market Act should be abolished, or whether any part of it should be repealed.
Weakening the protections that result from the market access principle. Instead, it will focus on ensuring the processes around their application are appropriate and transparent.
Northern Ireland and the arrangements around the Windsor Framework.
Financial Assistance Power
Subsidy control.

Responses

The Government is welcoming responses until 11:59 on Thursday 3 April. You can find further details about how to respond, including the questions, on the consultation website.

If members would be interested in a techUK submission, please do get in touch with [email protected] and [email protected] by the end of February to express your interest.

Matt Robinson

Head of Nations and Regions, techUK

Stephanie Barr

Programme Manager, SME Engagement and Nations & Regions, techUK

Ileana Lupsa

Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK

Archie Breare

Public Affairs Manager, techUK

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