Gold-plating (also known as super-equivalence) is when national implementation goes beyond the minimum necessary to comply with an EU directive. It may be used, for example, to retain pre-existing standards that are higher than those required by the directive, to substitute wider UK legal terms for those used in the directive, or in order not to take full advantage of derogations.

The previous government's policy was not to go beyond the minimum requirements of EU directives, unless there were exceptional circumstances. Indeed, the Financial Services Authority has been making efforts over the last few years to re-draft existing, and implement new, directives using the "copy out" approach.

Lucy Fergusson, a partner at Linklaters LLP, recalls the previous government's approach to implementing the Shareholder Rights Directive (2007/35/EC), which required amendments to the Companies Act 2006 (2006 Act). "The government did actively seek (in consultation with interested parties) to ensure that the amendments worked in a clear and cohesive way alongside the other provisions of the 2006 Act relating to shareholder meetings, as well as ensuring that any gold-plating was kept to a minimum and fully justified after considering the costs and benefits involved," she says. "It would be helpful to see this approach continue."

Vince Cable's key new guiding principle is that copy out for transposition should always be used where it is available, except where doing so would adversely affect UK interests. This is fine, and sounds more robust that the previous policy, in theory; however, it does not envisage what should be done, for example, when draftsmen encounter problems with interpretation and ambiguity in a particular directive's provisions. So, in practice, the approach to implementation may end up being pretty similar to the current position.

"The desire to avoid imposing unnecessary burdens is welcome," says Fergusson. "But a literal copy out approach should be treated with caution: it could sow doubt and confusion because EU legislation is often expressed in ways that do not sit comfortably within the English legal framework."

The principles also do not take any line on existing gold-plated legislation. However, all may become clearer when new transposition guidance is published in the spring.

The other guiding principles are that:

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ policy page on gold-plating is at www.bis.gov.uk/policies/better-regulation/policy/european-legislation/goldplating.