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(Last updated: 23 July 2021) 

In a referendum held on 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union. For a long time, the withdrawal agreement negotiated between the EU and the UK was not adopted by the British Parliament, could not come into force and thus the withdrawal deadline was deferred on several occasions. 

On 31 January 2020 at midnight (CET), the UK left the EU. With that, the Withdrawal Agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom came into force. 

Until the expiry of the transition period set out in the Withdrawal Agreement on 31 December 2020, the UK was still treated as a Member State. Since 1 January 2021, EU law has ceased to apply to the United Kingdom and the UK is no longer part of the internal market or customs union.

Following intense negotiations, the EU and UK reached an agreement on their future partnership on 24 December 2020. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement was applied provisionally as of 1 January 2021 and entered into force on 1 May 2021. 

Although the negotiating parties succeeded in reaching a trade and cooperation agreement, the relationship with the UK will be fundamentally different to membership of the EU internal market. As of 1 January 2021, there is now a customs border between the EU and the UK, and customs formalities must be observed. 

Numerous further points are (as yet) unclear. We offer you comprehensive advice on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU in all legal areas concerned. Please contact us with your questions so that we can work out the best solutions for you.

Podcast - The Future after Brexit
CMS To Go
30/01/2020
Brexit - the countdown to customs and border controls
The date has been postponed on several occasions but now the day is here. The United Kingdom will leave the EU on midnight (CET) on 31 January 2020. Transition period The transition period begins thereafter...

Timeline: Brexit and other Events relevant to the European Union in this context

Brexit Timeline

Please find below a summary of the possible legal consequences of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, arranged according to areas of law. If you require any further information please feel free to contact John Hammond at any time.

If you have any questions regarding the UK's withdrawal from the EU and its consequences, you can call our lawyers on the Brexit Hotline at any time: +49 711 9764 930.

Brexit Hotline

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Employment law
Corporate/M&A
Dispute Resolution
Financial market regulation
Competition / Antitrust Law
Private Clients
Tax
TMC incl. data protection
Brexit Contacts

Feed

29/08/2022
House of lords votes for controversial Northern Ireland bill
The British House of Lords has voted in favour of a controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in its second reading. With the planned law, the Brexit agreements on Nothern Ireland are to be able to...
18/03/2022
Post-Brexit: UK plaintiffs must provide cost security for proceedings in...
Last year, long lorry jams made it clear to everyone what consequences Brexit will have for crossing the border to mainland Europe. Far less known is the hurdle which UK companies must overcome when they...
01/06/2021
Some leaks can't be fixed
“Confidential information is like an ice cube... give it to the party who has no refrigerator or will not agree to keep it in one, and by the time of the trial you have just a pool of water.” This...
18/09/2020
How will invalidity of the Privacy Shield and new rules for Standard Contractual...
In a recent ruling, the EU Court of Justice struck down the EU-US Privacy Shield and, though it ruled that standard contractual clauses remain valid for transfers of personal data outside the EEA, interpreted...
14/08/2020
The Future after Brexit – an Update
Negotiations between the EU and the UK regarding their future relationship are ongoing. The framework for the negotiations was set out in the Political Declaration on Future Relations that was agreed...
27/07/2020
Protection for Designs in UK post Brexit
Since 2002, UK businesses have been able to protect their designs by virtue of both UK and EU design rights, conferring parallel but slightly differing forms of protection. This article considers the...
28/02/2020
UK/EU financial services after Brexit -cross border regulation after the...
On 25 February, the Council of the EU published the final version of its negotiating mandate and, two days later, the UK government set out its approach to our future relationship with the EU. Negotiations...
30/01/2020
Brexit - the countdown to customs and border controls
The date has been postponed on several occasions but now the day is here. The United Kingdom will leave the EU on midnight (CET) on 31 January 2020. Transition period The transition period begins thereafter...
15/11/2019
Brexit and data protection: what to do next (when you don’t know what’s...
Whilst the threat of a no-deal Brexit has been averted for now, the future is by no means certain. We have highlighted some of the key issues for UK-based organisations, and the EEA organisations that...
27/09/2019
Financial assistance to Member States and European undertakings in the...
Brexit without an agreement would have important consequences for the economy, the labour market and public finances in the Member States that have particularly close trade and financial relations with...
12/09/2019
UK food and cosmetic producers to the EU to face new regulations after...
As Brexit draws nearer and with the likelihood of an unregulated exit still not off the table, EU-27 companies importing or selling food or cosmetics from Great Britain face liability risks if they continue...
21/08/2019
CMS - Focusing on Funds – Luxembourg Brexit
This Focusing on Funds is an alert with respect to the Brexit reminders issued by the Luxembourg regulator ("CSSF") to all firms currently authorised under CRD, MiFID II, PSD 2 or EMD in the United Kingdom...