Following the Queen's speech yesterday, the government has published a briefing pack setting out details of the bills that it intends to introduce, including the so-called Brexit Freedoms Bill as well as key legislation relevant to financial services. The government will introduce a Financial Services and Markets Bill, which will, among other things:
In addition, an Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will overhaul and enhance the Registrar of Companies' powers with a view to improving the transparency and accuracy of the Companies House Register; a follow up to the recent Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which strengthened the U.K. sanctions regime, introduced the new obligations for overseas entities that own U.K. real property to register their beneficial owners with Companies House and reformed some of the measures for Unexplained Wealth Orders. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will provide powers for seizing and recovering crypto-assets more easily and introduce the ability for financial institutions to share information to prevent and detect economic crime, particularly money laundering.
Furthermore, a Data Reform Bill will overhaul the U.K.'s data protection legislation, which is based on the retained EU law version of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. The changes are intended to boost innovation, competition and growth by reducing many of the burdensome requirements, while also ensuring personal data is protected to a high standard.
The Brexit Freedoms Bill was first announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on January 31, 2022, and is intended to make it easier to amend or remove retained EU laws, to better suit the U.K.'s circumstances and policies. The Brexit Freedoms Bill will work in tandem with a government drive to reform, repeal and replace EU laws that are seen as outdated, cumbersome or otherwise not in the U.K.'s national interest. This is linked to the reviews begun by former Brexit Minister, Lord Frost, of retained EU laws. The first is on the substance of retained EU laws and is being handled by government departments. The second review is on the legal status of retained EU laws. Several EU concepts that still affect the U.K. have been identified, including:
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