OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE (UK Official Use Only)
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burdens. However, Health and Safety and Environmental areas cannot be exempt. Different sectors may have different approaches which may work better. The UK highlighted the charge for plastic bags as a case study. The UK explained that it introduced a mandatory 5p charge for plastic bags, which goes to charity. Most plastic bags were provided by big high street stores. Local corner shops were therefore exempted from the law, hence not burdening them in any way. The UK (Farrel) explained that Minsters will not proceed with regulations unless the Regulatory Policy Committee is happy with the impact assessment. Public consultations and impact assessments are carried out on draft legislation before it becomes law. The Better Regulation Executive (BRE) in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) monitors the measurement of regulatory burdens and coordinate efforts to ensure that the regulation which remains is smarter, better targeted and less costly to business The US (Steward) asked if the UK keeps track of the impact of these policies. The UK (Farrel) replied explaining that there are post-implementation reviews of legislation. After five years, there is an assessment of regulations. The UK offered to share the next update of the Better Regulation Framework Manual, which is due to be published before Christmas, which is a regulation framework for all civil servants who are drafting legislation. The UK (Farrel) asked for the US reactions to the proposal on MSMEs and good regulatory practice which had been tabled for the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Ministerial Conference 11 in Buenos Aires. The US (Sevilla) replied that the US share an interest in SMEs and want to reduce barriers affecting them. The US highlighted that there are appropriate SME committees that deal with these issues in the WTO.
Action Items The UK is to share guidance on BRE framework with the US. FOR INTERNAL DISTRIBUTION ONLY Lead Negotiator Analysis/Comments See the main SME session. Again, the atmosphere for this session was very positive with both sides interested in learning from each other’s practices.
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