Government publishes Smarter Regulatory Framework delivery plan

Treasury has published a delivery plan setting out how the Government will deliver a Smarter Regulatory Framework (SRF) tailored to the UK now that FSMA 2023 has repealed retained EU law for financial services.

As part of the Edinburg Reforms, Treasury published a policy statement in December 2022 on building an SRF for the UK. This most recent paper sets out how it will deliver this approach in practice, and covers:

• The Government’s progress to date on repealing EU law, and its forward-looking plans for implementation by the end of 2023 and in 2024 onwards;
• Balancing responsibilities between Treasury and the regulators:
  • Firm-facing provisions to be set through regulator rulebooks;
  • Government legislation focussed on setting the framework within which regulators exercise their responsibilities; and
  • Use of the new Designated Activities Regime (DAR) to enable the regulation of activities where it is not proportionate to require those individuals carrying out the activities to become authorised;
• Targeted policy change vs the “lift and shift” approach;
• New statutory instruments:
  • Designated Activities Regulations;
  • “Have Regard” Regulations;
  • Modification and Disapplication of Rules Regulations; and
  • Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations; and
• Stakeholder input