Debate contribution: Product Regulation and Metrology Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on 16 June 2025.

MLA

Dr Caoimhe Archibald

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

16 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Product Regulation and Metrology Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5011096

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I regret that I am unable to move the motion in the way that I would have wished for the debate. I will provide an update on why that is the case and why I am unable to seek the Assembly's consent to all the clauses in the Bill that engage devolved matters. The handling of the Bill by the British Government has been unacceptable from the outset. There was no substantive engagement with my officials prior to its introduction, and it was then immediately clear that I could not support consent for the Bill as drafted. The Bill provides powers to the Secretary of State to make regulations in a wide range of areas, with a small number of those falling under devolved competence. The Bill made no provision for the Secretary of State to require consent from the devolved Governments. My predecessor raised that matter directly with Minister Leong and was assured that there would be engagement at official level to find a mutually beneficial solution. Due to difficulties with the Bill's passage in the House of Lords, the offer to amend the Bill to resolve my concerns was not made until Committee Stage in the House of Commons. The offer to amend the Bill resolved my concerns, and the Bill now contains the devolution amendment. I met Minister Madders and set it out in writing that the Bill's passage in Parliament must allow time for the Assembly to carry out its scrutiny role, to debate and to meaningfully vote on the consent request. My officials also set out the requirements and time frames of our consent process in detail to the Bill team. Unfortunately, those requirements were not fully respected, and Parliament moved to Report Stage on 4 June before I was able to bring the motion before the Assembly. As a result, most of the Bill is no longer amendable and cannot be subject to a consent request. The only substantive devolved matter that is now within the scope of a consent vote is the devolution amendment. That is a completely unacceptable situation, and I have written to Minister Madders to seek assurance that it will not be repeated. However, as the request for consent to the Bill was able to obtain my support and the approval of the Executive and as the Committee's report was supportive, I propose a motion that asks for your consent, where possible, and further asks that you note and support the areas that cannot be subject to a full consent vote. I will move on to the Bill. A priority of the Programme for Government is to grow a globally competitive and sustainable economy, which my Department supports with our prioritisation of good jobs, regional balance and raising productivity. Anything with the potential to undo the harms of Brexit, smooth trade flows and reduce regulatory divergence, with the unnecessary additional burdens placed on business, is to be welcomed. The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill was introduced at Westminster on 4 September 2024. The Bill aims to support economic growth, provide regulatory stability and deliver more protection for consumers. It seeks to respond to new product risks and opportunities to enable us to keep pace with technological advances such as AI and address issues such as incidents of ingesting button batteries and fire risks associated with e-bikes. It identifies new and emerging business models in the supply chain, ensuring that the responsibilities of those involved in the supply of products, such as online marketplaces, are clear and modernised for increasingly complex supply chains to support consumers' confidence in the products that they buy and in those from whom they buy them. The Bill ensures that the law can be updated to allow a means of recognising new or updated EU product requirements, with the intention of preventing additional costs for businesses and providing regulatory stability. It enables improvements to compliance and enforcement, reflecting the challenges of modern digital borders. The Bill seeks to enable the British Government and their regulators to tackle non-compliance and target interventions by allowing greater sharing of data between regulators and market surveillance authorities. It updates the legal metrology framework that governs the accuracy of weights and measures for purchased goods. That seeks to give consumers and businesses confidence in what they buy and to allow for technological progress, including in support of net zero aims and infrastructure: for example, enabling innovation while ensuring that energy smart meters are accurate in their readings. The Bill confers powers to make product regulations; make product requirements; enforce product regulations; make metrology regulations; enforce metrology regulations; make regulations in respect of data sharing; and make regulations in respect of cost recovery. Most product regulation is not devolved under the 1998 Act. However, areas such as chemicals are, and it should be for me, as Economy Minister, and other relevant Ministers to set those policy directions for devolved matters. The original iteration of the Bill did not respect devolution. I therefore sought amendments that would allow us to consent to the Bill. Our Welsh and Scottish counterparts had similar concerns. Those efforts led to a devolution amendment that requires the consent of NI Departments to be sought to regulations covering devolved matters that the Secretary of State lays at Westminster. However, it is important to note that most areas of product regulation will fall under the Windsor framework and that most future regulations made under the Bill's powers are anticipated to be applicable only in Britain. Indeed, the Bill allows Britain to align with EU product regulation already applicable in the North. I encourage the British Government to utilise the powers available to undo many of the harms of Brexit and align key product regulations with those in the EU. That would benefit businesses here and in Britain. Metrology, weights and measures is generally a devolved matter and does not form part of the Windsor framework. That means that regulations in relation to metrology could extend to the North. However, the devolution amendment also requires consent to regulations on metrology, meaning that devolved competence is respected. My officials advise me that metrology is an area of long-standing, cooperative and positive engagement, with regulation in the area mainly being scientific and/or technical. The Executive have given their support to seeking consent to the Bill, and the Economy Committee's report is also supportive. I thank the Committee for its engagement and report. It is primarily an enabling Bill, providing powers to make regulations, and it has the potential to allow Britain to align more easily with EU product regulation, which would greatly benefit our businesses trading east-west. I therefore commend the motion to the Assembly and thank Members for their support at this juncture.

I thank the Member for his intervention. We are at too far advanced a stage to give consent to all the clauses, so we are asking for consent to be given to the particular clause on the devolution amendment. I am content with that, the Executive are content with that and the Committee report is supportive of that. There is not an ability to amend further the other clauses, given the Bill's current form, so we can ask only for consent to be given to that particular clause.

1,220 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:53 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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