Explanatory memoranda on EU documents
Explanatory memoranda summarise important EU documents and the UK government’s policy position on them.
An explanatory memorandum (EM) is the government’s written evidence to Parliament about EU documents that propose changes to EU law that remains applicable to the UK, or on other matters which are relevant to the UK’s new relationship with the EU.
An EM summarises a specific EU document and the government’s policy position on it.
This page contains all EMs published by the government since 8 March 2022.
Until the dissolution of Parliament on 30 May 2024, all EMs were considered by the Commons European Scrutiny Committee (ESC) and the Lords European Affairs Committee (EAC) and its Sub-Committee on the Windsor Framework (SCWF). However, only the EAC has been reappointed in the current Parliament.
Reports published by the EAC and correspondence with ministers on EMs considered can be found on the Committee’s website. The ESC and SCWF websites can still be consulted for their past work until the dissolution.
Read EMs published between April 2012 and March 2022 on the archived European Memoranda website.