ABSTRACT
No EC regulations or directives have so far had any significant impact on monetary policy in the United Kingdom, whilst the UK's participation in the operation of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System (EMS) was of relatively short duration. So, for example, where the development of monetary policy in some other EU countries may have been substantially affected by the requirement under Single European Market legislation to remove exchange controls, the United Kingdom had already removed such controls at the outset of the 1980s. It is doubtful whether the EC banking directives had any discernible effect on banking regulation in the UK, which had already been radically revised in a series of steps from the reforms of 1971 to those of 1981.1 And where other countries participated with enthusiasm in the ERM from the outset, the UK stood on the sidelines, only formally taking part in the period from October 1990 to September 1992. Aside from this latter episode we are left with nuances rather than strong and clear effects.
