On November 21, the House of Commons published a briefing paper (Paper) that suggested legislation regarding Brexit and the Great Repeal Bill. The Paper covers topics including the likely features of the Great Repeal Bill, the process for repealing the European Communications Act 1972 (ECA), the transposition of EU law into UK law, other primary legislation that implements EU law, and the proposed use of delegated powers, devolved institutions and the UK court system.

Notably, the Paper outlines high-level provisions that the Great Repeal Bill may contain, including: 1) provisions to maintain secondary legislation implemented under section 2(2) of the ECA, to keep them in place once the ECA is repealed; 2) a broad “continuance clause” to transpose all directly applicable EU legislation into UK law on the day the UK officially leaves the EU; 3) commencement provisions; 4) delegated powers to enable ministers to alter primary and secondary legislation to give effect to the withdrawal agreement and to make any changes post withdrawal; 5) provisions detailing a parliamentary procedure for the scrutiny of delegated legislation made by ministers under the Great Repeal Bill; and 6) schedules listing primary legislation to be repealed (for example, the European Union Act 2011).

The Paper is available here; and the House of Commons press release, here.