This project would focus primarily on a number of potential technical reforms to address the problems created by progressive legislative changes to the powers of the CACD over decades. April 2021 – we responded to the Ministry of Justice`s consultation on judicial oversight reform But campaign organizations and experts believe there are no real reasons for reform. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) launched its own investigation in 2021, stating in its report that there was “no reason to change the HRA”. JUSTICE is a legal reform and human rights charity that works to reform the UK`s justice system, with a focus on the most vulnerable and marginalised people in society. The UK government`s consultation on a “modern Bill of Rights” to reform the country`s Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) concluded in mid-April. According to Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, the government`s plans will “prevent abuse of the system and add a healthy dose of common sense”. We would also like to know if the problems associated with buying homes can be solved by market measures or if legislative reform is needed. Now that the UK has control over all relevant legislation, there are ways to bring more coherence to the areas of national legislation most affected by leaving the EU. We recognize that the various ministries have already identified some high-priority areas that need to be reformed.

The Legal Committee could consider a comprehensive project to study the areas where redress of legislation is likely to bring the greatest benefit, in close collaboration with the Office of the Parliamentary Adviser and the Government`s Legal Department. This work can identify priority thematic areas of law that need to be streamlined, which would help provide a solid basis for the future development of the law. Alternatively, some areas of retained EU law could already be identified as in need of reform. The Law Commission is the independent statutory body established by the Law Commissions Act 1965 to review the law of England and Wales and recommend reforms where necessary. The Commission`s objective is to ensure that the law: Other technical areas of law were also mentioned to us, such as the technical right to vote on the basis of municipal and senatorial elections or the law on the online publication of laws and legal acts. We mention these areas to illustrate some of the issues where we could support the Welsh Government`s efforts to simplify and modernise the law and look forward to hearing from the Welsh public which areas of the law they think would benefit from legislative reform. In 2014, we recommended that a draft legislative reform consider the creation of a single framework for the exchange of data between public sector bodies and organisations performing public tasks. We were told that the law was complex and unclear, resulting in real and perceived barriers to the desirable sharing of data in the public interest. Since then, the Digital Economy Act 2017 has introduced new provisions on information sharing to support more efficient and effective digital public services. But there are still many sectoral bridges in the law book, and the political and technological context has changed considerably. The draft would examine how the law on the acquisition and processing of electronic equipment in criminal investigations could be updated and simplified. Whether this is done through a recalibration of the existing legal framework or through new powers and safeguards could be examined in detail in cooperation with key stakeholders.

The Commission remains committed to meeting the reform needs of England and Wales in our changing constitutional context. Legal reform in Wales is an essential part of our work, especially as devolution has gained momentum in the UK. The amendments to the Legal Commissions Act 1965 and a protocol between the Commission and the First Minister mean that our relationship with the Welsh Government is well established. The 12th Legal Reform Programme included two projects exclusive to Wales: the Form and Accessibility of Law and Planning Law. Our last programme resulted in a project on decentralized courts; We have also launched a coal landfill safety project in Wales. The Law Commission has spent some time considering some ideas for possible areas of legislative reform. We have proposed a number of these ideas below. We stress that these are only our original ideas and that we do not in any way give priority to these areas over other areas that could be proposed in the framework of the consultation of the 14th Programme.

Nor have we tested these ideas thoroughly, including assessing whether they are likely to be supported by the government. They are intended to give an idea of the scale and scope of the work we can envisage. However, we look forward to hearing your views on these proposals. The Arbitration Act 1996 has been praised for helping to make the UK – and London in particular – a destination of choice for commercial arbitration. However, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the 1996 Arbitration Act, which provides a good opportunity to review it again, especially as other jurisdictions have adopted more recent reforms. This potential project would revise the 1996 Act and propose possible amendments if necessary. The aim would be to maintain the attractiveness of England and Wales as a “target” for dispute settlement and the primacy of English law as a choice of law. If you have feedback on these or other ideas for legislative reform, please see our consultation here. Clear and accessible legislation is important to ensure that people understand and honour their obligations, and when they do not, public authorities can take effective enforcement action.

Excessive detail and complexity can blur the message. A possible example of this is the Protected Areas Designation Act. Protected areas provide value by preserving heritage and protecting biodiversity, and are also important sources of carbon sequestration, so it is useful to have legal designations that signal their importance. However, the Protected Areas Act currently uses eight different legally protected designations, as well as four international expulsions and three non-statutory designations (some of which are protected by law). This leads to what we`ve called the “blizzard of acronyms” and means that different rules apply to what activity is allowed on websites depending on the name. In determining whether a family law project is appropriate for the Legal Committee, it is important to distinguish between problems that can be resolved through detailed legal analysis and addressed by structural legislative changes and problems related to law enforcement in practice. Issues of funding and resources, for example, were not appropriate for the Legal Committee. Similarly, the government is unlikely to give the necessary approval for the Law Commission to work in politically sensitive areas on which it has already issued a political opinion. We are asking the consultants for their views on whether the industry would find it useful for the Legal Commission to carry out work in this area.

Given the international nature of this area of law, we should consider whether recommendations to reform national law would be useful or appropriate. Alternatively, we could develop a set of options for reform, discussion and negotiation at the international level. In this area, the Committee on Legal Affairs has prepared three reports on “Scandalization of the Court”, “Misconduct of juries and publications on the Internet” and “Judicial reports”. Many of the recommendations we made in the first two reports have been implemented. We are waiting for the government to tell us what we did in the third report. We have consulted on contempt of court, but work on this part of the act has been suspended to advance other more urgent legislative reform projects. Consideration will need to be given to how digital participation in judicial proceedings will be reconciled with traditional legal principles developed for another era. In order to maintain public and judicial confidence, it is important that these principles be developed in response to technological advances. For example, the principles and rules applicable to judicial proceedings; dealing with witnesses; access to judicial information; and protecting the integrity of the judicial process. The right to information is now generally governed by a mix of national and EU law retained contained in the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR UK. In a recent report, the Centre for Ethics and Data Innovation (CDEI) highlighted the importance of increasing trust in the processing and sharing of public sector data. As the government develops its data strategy, the next few years may prove ripe for legislative reform in this area.

This could focus on harmonising existing legislation after leaving the European Union. The law may need to be adapted to modern requirements, for example with regard to non-personal, anonymised or pseudonymised data. We look forward to ideas in this area of law. The Law Commission is working on a legislative reform programme and is currently on its 13th programme. Below are typical project steps on the website of the Right to www.lawcom.gov.uk/about/how-we-work/ We believe that the Legal Affairs Committee could take into account the current legal regime of product liability and, if necessary, make proposals to ensure that consumers are adequately protected with regard to software and related technological developments. We invite you to share your views on the need to review and reform the law in this area. Should a legal framework be developed to support the increasing automation of public decision-making? In principle, each project could focus on non-controversial technical legal reform or extend to substantive issues.