Some of the key challenges businesses are facing:
COVID uncertainty
Circular economy change
Supply chain regulation
Product safety regulation
Brexit regulatory changes
From mask rules to vaccination requirements, lockdowns to closed borders – and often large discrepancies across neighbouring countries and even regions within a country– the tidalwave of COVID legislation has been vast and confusing. Signs seem to point to a decrease in measures across the world (England has now removed isolation rules for those testing positive for COVID and in most cases free testing will end from 1 April 2022) but there is still set to be differences in approach for some time.
We do not know what the future will hold and how future variants may impact further change. What we do know is that any changes are quick, sometimes without consultation and leave business trying to find a common solution even within one nation, making it difficult to stay on top of things. Moving forward through the year businesses will have difficult decisions to make about what measures they voluntarily choose to keep in place as well as about the location and shape of work forces in the future.
COVID is not the only show in town. Across the EU there is a range of circular economy legislation, particularly around plastics, coming into force that will require implementation plus various local member state requirements around bans on certain products, taxation on others, recycling, as well as product labelling to be considered. Many of these are being implemented as Directives, so that means 27 versions of the law will be implemented. That is before we get into the non-financial reporting obligations, such as nature disclosures that flow from ESG. This impacts many areas of a business and staying on top of everything of this could be a full time job!
We have seen an increase in regulation focusing on the supply chain, and requiring businesses to look carefully at how they discharges duties, with modern slavery and other supply chain verification legislation coming into force in Germany. Additionally, the Unfair Trading Practices Directive being brought in across the EU, introduces measures much like the UK's GSCOP that will impact anyone trading in food in the EU, whether they are a member state or not.
We're experiencing change in respect of product safety regulation with both the EU and UK considering new rules. There is a groundswell of opinion in respect of duties on online marketplaces and recasting safety laws which will impact a range of clients. While the detail is yet to be announced, the direction of travel and pro-consumer lobbying appears clear. Both sides of the debate need to ensure that their voices are heard now before that direction of travel becomes a policy set in stone.
Regulatory changes flowing from Brexit will start to impact businesses in earnest in 2022. This will likely be the year that the divergence from EU law becomes more pronounced and more obvious, and nowhere will this be more obvious than in Northern Ireland. In parallel, we will start to see the UK Government accelerate its legislative proposals flowing from the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform independent report or the more recent Brexit Opportunities Unit.
While there may be some challenge and cost from these changes, there may also be significant chance for businesses to take advantage and find new opportunities in the UK market. We also anticipate that there is a considerable risk of intra-UK devolution as certain policy areas are open to the devolved nations to legislate. This is something that the government has recognised and in respect of certain food areas, it has resulted in a Concordat between the nations on that topic.
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From mask rules to vaccination requirements, lockdowns to closed borders – and often large discrepancies across neighbouring countries and even regions within a country– the tidalwave of COVID legislation has been vast and confusing. Signs seem to point to a decrease in measures across the world (England has now removed isolation rules for those testing positive for COVID and in most cases free testing will end from 1 April 2022) but there is still set to be differences in approach for some time. We do not know what the future will hold and how future variants may impact further change. What we do know is that any changes are quick, sometimes without consultation and leave business trying to find a common solution even within one nation, making it difficult to stay on top of things. Moving forward through the year businesses will have difficult decisions to make about what measures they voluntarily choose to keep in place as well as about the location and shape of work forces in the future.
COVID is not the only show in town. Across the EU there is a range of circular economy legislation, particularly around plastics, coming into force that will require implementation plus various local member state requirements around bans on certain products, taxation on others, recycling, as well as product labelling to be considered. Many of these are being implemented as Directives, so that means 27 versions of the law will be implemented. That is before we get into the non-financial reporting obligations, such as nature disclosures that flow from ESG. This impacts many areas of a business and staying on top of everything of this could be a full time job!
We have seen an increase in regulation focusing on the supply chain, and requiring businesses to look carefully at how they discharges duties, with modern slavery and other supply chain verification legislation coming into force in Germany. Additionally, the Unfair Trading Practices Directive being brought in across the EU, introduces measures much like the UK's GSCOP that will impact anyone trading in food in the EU, whether they are a member state or not.
We're experiencing change in respect of product safety regulation with both the EU and UK considering new rules. There is a groundswell of opinion in respect of duties on online marketplaces and recasting safety laws which will impact a range of clients. While the detail is yet to be announced, the direction of travel and pro-consumer lobbying appears clear. Both sides of the debate need to ensure that their voices are heard now before that direction of travel becomes a policy set in stone.
Regulatory changes flowing from Brexit will start to impact businesses in earnest in 2022. This will likely be the year that the divergence from EU law becomes more pronounced and more obvious, and nowhere will this be more obvious than in Northern Ireland. In parallel, we will start to see the UK Government accelerate its legislative proposals flowing from the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform independent report or the more recent Brexit Opportunities Unit. While there may be some challenge and cost from these changes, there may also be significant chance for businesses to take advantage and find new opportunities in the UK market. We also anticipate that there is a considerable risk of intra-UK devolution as certain policy areas are open to the devolved nations to legislate. This is something that the government has recognised and in respect of certain food areas, it has resulted in a Concordat between the nations on that topic.
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