There is a risk that over time regulatory divergence (both between the UK and the EU and between the four nations of the UK) may lead to increased administrative burden and regulatory costs for businesses. All three regulators use fee models, in whole or in part, to fund their work. Both FSA and HSE are in the process of reviewing their fees, and recognising that budgetary pressures, as well as the level of work required, may have an impact on what might need to be charged.52 We are concerned that these costs may have a disproportionate impact on smaller businesses. FSA noted that fees tended to be more bearable for bigger abattoirs and that they offered “more of a discount” for smaller businesses.53 HSE fees for chemicals regulation are charged on an application basis, which will be proportionately larger for smaller companies. It also noted that applications for CBD products were of a lower quality than it was used to receiving, because these companies were “not used to working with a regulator”. These applications were taking longer to validate, presumably increasing burdens and costs for both HSE and the company.54 However, it is worth noting that both FSA and HSE have responsibilities for making sure the Northern Ireland protocol works in practice, and while they felt that changes to the protocol might increase their workload, neither considered that it would have a substantive impact on levels of safety or on the costs of regulation.55 46 Q60 47 Q66 48 Q60 49 Qq 60, 67 50 Q60 51 Q60 52 Qq 45–51 are on fees. 53 Q50 54 Q21 55 Q64 14 Regulating after EU Exit International engagement