Review of the Balance of Competences

The Government is carrying out a review of the EU’s competences, which was launched in July 2012 by the Foreign and Commonwealth office.

This is an audit of what the EU does and how it affects the UK. Government departments will be consulting with business to look in depth at how the EU’s competences (the power to act in particular areas conferred on it by the EU Treaties) work in practice. This review was a commitment in the coalition agreement and Government have stated that it is important that Britain has a clear sense of how our national interests interact with EU roles.

The review is broken down into a number of individual reports covering specific areas of EU competence over the course of four periods. These periods are:

• Autumn 2012 – Summer 2013
• Spring 2013 – Winter 2013
• Autumn 2013 – Summer 2014
• Spring 2014 – Autumn 2014

At the start of each period the relevant Government department will launch a call for evidence setting out the scope of their work and requesting input from stakeholders, including European partners and institutions. At the end of each period they will publish a report online. Further information is available here.

Further detail on the areas covered is in the table below. The NFU is responding to areas of interest and has also submitted an overarching response.

Semester 1 (Autumn 2012 to Summer 2013)

Semester 2 (Spring 2013 to Winter 2013)

Semester 3 (Autumn 2013 to Summer 2014)

Semester 4 (Spring 2014 to Autumn 2014)