Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer from Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 19 October (HL8726), what will be the status of environmental complaints involving the UK currently under consideration by the EU if they are unresolved when the transition period ends on 1 January 2021.

Unresolved environmental complaints that are currently under consideration can continue to be considered by the EU after the transition period. As specified in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, with limited exceptions the Commission will continue to be competent for administrative procedures initiated before the end of the transition period, and the EU Court of Justice will continue to have jurisdiction over such cases. In addition, the withdrawal agreement includes a further four years from the end of the transition period, during which the Commission may bring cases before the Court of Justice for alleged infringements of EU law that occurred before the end of the transition period.