Commenting on the Great Repeal Bill White Paper, Dr Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
"Business communities around the UK want day-one certainty on the rules and regulations they will face when the UK leaves the EU. For that reason, the premise of stability and continuity at the heart of the Great Repeal Bill is welcome.
"A legislative transition of this size and scope has never before been implemented, and we will be watching carefully to ensure there are no unintended consequences for individual firms, for sectors or for business communities as a whole.
"The government must be exceedingly careful in its use of proposed fast-track powers, or risk blighting businesses with additional costs and burdens. As we have seen in the past, it takes only takes one poorly-drafted regulation to spark expensive court cases with wide-reaching consequences - and we are talking here about re-drafting thousands of pieces of the rule-book.
"In the fullness of time, businesses want to work with government to determine areas where maintaining equivalence with EU law is in our national economic interest, and areas where some divergence and change may be required. This will be a complex endeavor – better done right than done quickly."
