A conference on “Assimilated law – the role and future of retained EU law in the UK” will be held on 13 and 14 April 2026 at the University of Oxford. It is jointly organised by Professor Anne Davies and Dr Johannes Ungerer; it is funded by the Institute of European and Comparative Law as part of its 30th anniversary events.
The concept, category or chimaera of assimilated law emerged in the UK after Brexit: when becoming a Non-Member State, the UK chose to retain many EU laws in its domestic legal system, and this body of law has since been labelled ‘assimilated law’. There is an urgent need to explore and understand how assimilated law operates and might develop in future in the UK. Pressing questions concern how assimilated law is to be applied and interpreted and how it and the underlying EU laws might develop and diverge over time. Courts in the UK and on the Continent already had to deal with complex matters arising with regard to assimilated law, so there is a real need to distil and disseminate academic insights. In Lipton,³ the UK Supreme Court dealt with some initial questions, but they only addressed a small portion of the underlying issues.
The conference will bring together legal scholars and practitioners to establish a common understanding of the practices and challenges regarding assimilated law. The conference will be structured in two parts over the course of one and a half days: first, general questions about assimilated law will be debated, so that common themes, trends, and topics can be explored. Secondly, particularly tricky issues will be addressed which pertain to assimilated law in specific areas.
You can sign up to attend here.
The conference programme can be found below:
Monday 13 April 2026
| 9-9.15 | Anne Davies and Johannes Ungerer, Welcome by the organisers |
| 9.15-10.30 | Lord Sales – Keynote lecture: The concept, status, and constitutional place of assimilated law in the post-Brexit legal order |
| 10.30-11 | Coffee |
| 11-12.30 Chair: Lord Mance | Corinne Widmer-Lüchinger (Basel), Lessons from Switzerland for UK assimilated law Mads Andenæs (Oslo & Brick Court Chambers), Comparing assimilated law and the role of EU law in Norway Johannes Ungerer (Oxford), The relevance of the UK’s assimilated law in the EU |
| 12.30-2 | Lunch |
| 2-4 Chair: Anne Davies | Dorota Leczykiewicz (Oxford), The role of CJEU case law in judicial decision-making in the UK Emily Hancox (Bristol & Deighton Pierce Glynn), UK courts departing from assimilated case law Simon Whittaker (Oxford), The interpretation of UK legislation which replaces assimilated law Paul Beaumont (Stirling), Assimilated law in Rome I and II and quasi-assimilated law in their close cousins in the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982: possible areas of divergence from EU law |
| 4 | Coffee |
| 7 for 7.30 | Conference dinner (for speakers and those attendees who signed up) |
Tuesday 14 April 2026
| 9-11 Chair: Johannes Ungerer | Niamh Dunne (LSE), After section 60: the development of UK competition law post-Brexit Simon Gleeson (Oxford & Clifford Chance), UK financial services regulation – exorcising the ghost in the machine? Stefan Enchelmaier (Oxford), Take back control – follow the European Court! Exhaustion of intellectual property rights before and after Brexit Phillip Johnson (KCL & Hogarth Chambers), In an era of uncertainty, how do we now interpret assimilated intellectual property law? |
| 11-11.30 | Coffee |
| 11.30-1.30 Chair: Lord Mance | Catherine Barnard (Cambridge), Has the move to assimilated law made any difference? Anne Davies (Oxford), Assimilated labour and equality law Oliver Butler (Nottingham), UK data protection law on the border of a Digital Empire Angus Johnston (Oxford) and John Bell (Queen Mary), From the ‘Brussels Effect’ to ‘Hotel California’? The UK and EU energy law post-Brexit |
| 1.30-2.30 | Lunch |
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