FAQs

Legislation Monitoring

Operational Guidance

Paragraph 22(2)(a) of Schedule 2 to the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (EUWAA), provides that as part of its duty to monitor the implementation and application in the UK of Part 2 of the Withdrawal Agreement and Part 2 of the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement (“The Agreements”), the IMA must: –

“Keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of the legislative framework which implements or otherwise deals with matters arising out of, or related to, Part 2”.

Regulation 5(2) of the EUWAA Independent Monitoring Authority Regulations 2020 places the IMA under an identical duty to keep the legislative framework of Gibraltar under review insofar as it implements or deals with matters arising out of Part 2 of The Agreements.
The duties require the IMA to keep under review domestic legislation in the UK and Gibraltar which concern the rights protected by the Citizen’s Rights Agreements.

Approach to legislation monitoring

The IMA uses a range of sources to identify key legislation. The IMA categorises legislation as “key legislation” where it affects a citizen’s exercise of their Part 2 rights. This would include changes to benefit entitlement, NHS care or entry requirements at the border etc.

Once key legislation is identified, the single point of contact at the relevant Public Authority and Devolved Government is notified that the IMA is reviewing the legislation with a view to preparing a report for publication.

The IMA’s Legal Directorate review the legislation in order to assess its compatibility with The Agreements. Reviews are usually completed within 12 weeks of enactment. Following the review, a publication report is normally prepared. The report is sent to the single point of contact at the relevant Public Authority and Devolved Government for the purposes of checking factual accuracy. Occasionally, following an initial review, a report will not be necessary e.g. legislation removing redundant terminology, where rights are unaffected. Where this is the case, the single point of contact at the relevant Public Authority and Devolved Government will be notified. The Public Authority and Devolved Government will be given a period of at least 2 weeks in which to respond to the IMA with any comments.

Legislation monitoring reports may identify incompatibility between legislation (and any accompanying guidance or policy) and The Agreements. Sometimes, a commitment to remedy any incompatibility is provided by the Public Authority and Devolved Government at the point of report publication by the IMA. If so, this will be reflected within the report.

Once the relevant Public Authority and Devolved Government has confirmed it is content with the report, the report will be published here. The IMA aims to publish all legislation monitoring reports within 4 weeks of conclusion of engagement with the relevant Public Authority and Devolved Government .

Action following publication of report

In the event that further IMA action is required following report publication, a compliance case will be created.

Assurance Reviews

Compliance Cases

Litigation Powers

Inquiries