Concordats in the United Kingdom

The Concordat is not a legally binding agreement or a contract. It does not override the legal duties and powers of the four parties, each of which is responsible for discharging as it considers appropriate. Nor is it intended to cover every detailed aspect of the relationship between them. Rather, it is a statement of the principles that will guide relations between the four parties.

The Concordat is drawn up in accordance with the principles outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding and supplementary agreements between the UK Government, Scottish Ministers, the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Executive Committee (December 2001). This sets out the broad understanding of the UK Government and the devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland of the principles and practices that underlie relations between them. The Concordat is also intended to be consistent with the overarching concordats between those administrations, particularly the Concordat on Co-ordination of EU Policy Issues and the Concordat on International Relations.

An example of Concordat is the Concordat on the implementation of Directive 2001/18/EC and Regulation 1946/2003/EC, An agreement between the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland, the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Executive and the UK Government.