Following the UK General Election on 12 December, the government now has the parliamentary majority it needs to enact its Brexit policy: an orderly exit from the EU on 31 January followed by a transition period until 31...more
1/10/2020
/ EFTA ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
European Parliament ,
Free Movement ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
General Elections ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Ratification ,
Transitional Arrangements ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Parliament ,
Withdrawal Agreement ,
WTO
It is now clear that the UK will not go over the cliff by leaving the EU on 31 October without a Withdrawal Agreement: UK membership has been extended to 31 January 2020 (although Brexit could come sooner, if the recently...more
Brexit has been postponed again, until at least 31 October 2019, but with the possibility that it may occur sooner, maybe even within a few weeks....more
4/15/2019
/ Article 50 Treaty of the EU ,
Customs Unions ,
Election Results ,
EU ,
EU Single Market ,
European Parliament ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Special Election ,
Tariffs ,
Time Extensions ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Parliament ,
Withdrawal Agreement
When the UK leaves the EU it will cease to be a party to the EU’s free trade and investment agreements with some 70 countries, covering some 11% of UK trade. In the event of a "No Deal" Brexit, the UK’s trade with these...more
In a series of votes on 29 January, the UK parliament rejected proposals aimed at preventing the UK leaving the EU on 29 March without a Withdrawal Agreement in place. Although there was a narrow majority for a non-binding...more
The UK House of Commons has rejected the government’s proposed Withdrawal Agreement. Unless the Agreement (or an amended version of it) is approved by the House of Commons, or the Brexit date of 29 March 2019 is postponed or...more
1/16/2019
/ AIFM ,
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Asset Management ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Free Movement ,
Imports ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
MiFID II ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Treaty ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Relations ,
Transitional Arrangements ,
UCITS ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Withdrawal Agreement
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued a letter to 145,000 UK businesses setting out actions they need to take now to prepare for the “unlikely event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.” More substantial steps may be...more
12/7/2018
/ Business Entities ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Customs ,
EU ,
Exports ,
HMRC ,
Imports ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (TCTA 2018) ,
Transitional Arrangements ,
Transportation Contracts ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Value-Added Tax (VAT) ,
Withdrawal Agreement
The UK government has published proposals for extending government scrutiny of investment to address the national security risks posed by acquisitions of ownership of, or control over, certain entities or assets....more
The UK government has widened the circumstances in which it may block mergers and takeovers of businesses in the military, dual-use, computing hardware and quantum technology sectors. Further strengthening of the UK rules is...more
6/19/2018
/ Blocked Mergers ,
Dual Use Goods ,
EU ,
EU Merger Directive ,
European Commission ,
Exports ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Member State ,
Mergers ,
Military Goods ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Software ,
Takeovers ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
After Brexit, while the UK is widely expected to remain closely aligned with EU sanctions, one area where the UK could offer a more business-friendly approach is the grant of licences authorising businesses to conduct...more
5/9/2018
/ Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
ECJU ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Financial Transactions ,
General Licenses ,
Member State ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
In 2017 there were a number of major sanctions developments in the EU and the US, with implications for businesses both in terms of keeping their compliance processes effective, and in terms of what to do if breaches are...more
2/6/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
CAATSA ,
Compliance ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
North Korea ,
Nuclear Power ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Russia ,
Sovereign Debt ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Venezuela
The annual update of the EU’s list of dual-use items subject to export controls will shortly come into force. The UK will update its open general licences that are affected. Businesses exporting dual-use items should check...more
After Brexit, customs declarations to UK Customs are expected to increase five-fold to 255 million annually and the UK companies making declarations to double to over 270,000. But only 0.2% of those traders have AEO status –...more
The risk of a no agreement ‘cliff-edge’ is growing and the prospects for a transitional agreement, while somewhat improved, remain uncertain. The groundwork in Whitehall and the negotiations in Brussels have made only limited...more
Businesses and consumers need certainty over the laws that underpin trading across the borders of the EU and the millions of contracts they make each day which currently benefit from the legal certainty membership of the EU...more
The result of the UK’s general election on 8 June has reignited speculation that the UK government might pursue a softer Brexit. In this update, we provide a reminder of the main “softer” Brexit models which had previously...more
6/13/2017
/ Customs Unions ,
EFTA ,
EU Single Market ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Free Movement ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
General Elections ,
Political Parties ,
Tariffs ,
Theresa May ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
WTO
A gentle reminder for all those with a turnover above £36 million and doing business in the UK.
...more
The UK will hold a General Election on 8 June. While this will mean that the ongoing work of the Government on Brexit will be put on hold, the two-year deadline for the negotiations continues to draw closer....more
The UK Government today formally triggered the process of leaving the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. How are the negotiations likely to affect your business? Defining your priorities, developing...more
Companies should be reviewing their existing contracts — at least those which may still apply at the point of Brexit — and amending the standard terms of business they propose to use from now on, to account for when the UK...more
Roughly half of all UK trade is with non-EU countries1. It is argued that Brexit will accelerate the growth of this trade by enabling the UK to strike its own trade deals, particularly with the world’s largest and most...more
The consequences of breaching sanctions in the UK are due to increase in April. Prominent among the new measures is the power for the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) to impose a monetary penalty and to do...more
The UK High Court ruled yesterday that the Government cannot rely on its historic prerogative powers to launch the Article 50 process to withdraw the UK from the EU. The Government has said it will appeal the decision to the...more
Four months have passed since the UK voted to leave the EU. We are still some way from knowing the likely terms of a post-Brexit agreement, even if the Conservative Party conference and other recent statements have given some...more
10/27/2016
/ Brussels Convention ,
Contract Terms ,
Data Protection ,
Environmental Policies ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
Free Movement ,
Immigration Reform ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Member State ,
One-Stop Shop ,
Popular ,
Rome Regulation ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
Pressure on businesses to do more to address slavery is ramping-up. In July, the UK Prime Minister described slavery as ‘the greatest human rights issue of our time’. Today, 18 October, marks Anti-Slavery Day in the UK....more