Chamber and committees

Thank you.

Professor McEwen, do you have any comments or thoughts on that?

It is clear that the internal market act applies equally, but that brings up questions about what existing legislation was in place that brings new legislation into the scope of the act. For example, the legislation for the deposit return scheme was through in advance, so it should be able to be implemented without respect to the internal market act. However, in England and Wales, a deposit return scheme would need to be implemented with cognisance taken of the internal market act, which could lead to detrimental implications for England and advantages for Scotland, certainly from a business point of view.

It is clear that, in that example and many others, one solution is the integration of common frameworks to overlay the internal market act. What specific dispute resolution mechanisms can be put in place in advance for where that fails or where future Governments in any of the countries seek to dispute those common frameworks, to try to ensure that we comply with existing legislation and allow any of the devolved Administrations to improve regulations or make legislative changes as they see fit?

If we park for a moment the question of what might be acceptable to all parties, in your opinion, what could be put in place from a legal perspective to improve the Northern Ireland protocol?

Thank you, Professor Weatherill. That is very helpful. Would Professor Jo Hunt like to come in on that?

I will move on to Seamus Leheny. You can feel free to comment on that question, but I also want to ask you a more practical question. Aside from just having no checks, are there any technological improvements that can allow more frictionless trade? Is there anything, whether it be QR coding or open data sharing among logistics firms, that is ready to be deployed or is on the horizon?

I see that Professor Pittock has no additional comments, so I move to a slightly different subject area, which is how Scottish elected representatives engage with the EU. The Committee of the Regions is an EU advisory body that is composed of local and regional elected representatives. Should Scottish elected representatives engage with the Committee of the Regions, and if so, how?

Dr Marks, in its submission, the Law Society of Scotland emphasised that it would welcome the Scottish Parliament’s having oversight of the decision not to align with EU law. Can you expand on that issue and say what parliamentary oversight would be welcome and what form it would take?

Would any of the other panel members like to comment?

I have a specific question for Professor Armstrong. I found the three interesting case studies in the submission to be very helpful, and I am interested in whether the non-discrimination principle applies to the deposit return scheme. Is there anything that we can do in advance to safeguard against potential litigation? If not, would the scheme need to be delayed until a court gave its ruling on which principle might apply?