Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Official Report 710KB pdf

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European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

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Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Item 3 is the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. There is a consent notification in relation to one UK statutory instrument, namely the Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. The instrument is being laid in the UK Parliament in relation to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Do committee members have any comments?

Thank you, convener. I am not making an objection. I cannot find it in my papers at the moment, but I noted the phrase,

“There is no direct non-EU equivalent to STECF”,

which is the EU’s scientific, technical and economic committee for fisheries. Given the important role that the STECF has played, that is something that the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee should monitor going forward.

Thank you for raising that, John. I will come to a potential solution for that in a moment. I can see that there are no other comments. The papers contained some questions, and given that John has raised another one, it seems apposite that we consider adding that to our list of questions that we want to raise. Does the committee agree to write to the Scottish Government to confirm that it is content that consent be given for the UK SI?

Members indicated agreement.

I suggest that we write to the Government with the list of questions that were posed in the paper, adding the question that John Finnie has raised, and seek responses to those. Does the committee agree to that?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you. We move into private session.

12:15 Meeting continued in private until 12:43.