Chamber and committees

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

EU Law Tracker

At its meeting on 31 March 2022, the Committee considered how to support the Parliament’s scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s commitment to alignment with EU law. The Committee agreed to ask SPICe to commission research setting out all the significant EU legislative developments which come within the scope of the Scottish Government’s policy commitment to continued EU alignment

SPICe commissioned Dr Lisa Claire Whitten from Queen’s University Belfast to set out a baseline of EU policy and law in devolved areas which are potentially within the scope of the Scottish Government’s commitment to align with EU law.

Alignment with European Union Law Report (931KB, pdf) posted 18 November 2022

Reports

After receiving Dr Whitten’s report, the Committee agreed to commission an external body to provide the Parliament with an EU Law tracker based on the model developed by Dr Whitten. The primary purpose of the tracker will be to provide transparency and allow the Parliamentary Committees, stakeholders including business and the public to track relevant developments in EU law. This will allow business and civil society in Scotland to continue to be aware of EU legislative developments which may affect them. The tracker will also assist the Parliament in scrutinising the Scottish Government’s commitment to EU alignment.

Following a procurement exercise, the Parliament has commissioned Dr Whitten to produce an EU law tracker which will see two reports a year delivered to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. These reports will include a number of case studies outlining changes to EU law and will be published and made available to the relevant subject committees. The first report was presented to the Committee and published in September 2023.