European Commission releases end of transition notices for UK-EU trade

10 Jul 2020 11:40 AM

Notices provided by the European Commission set out how trade between the EU and UK will change on 1 January 2021

The European Commission has released a collection of notices for EU based businesses, public bodies and citizens detailing how the end of the transition period will impact trade between the UK and the EU either in the event of both a deal, or a non-negotiated outcome.

The collection of technical notices can be found here.

techUK members may wish to pay special attention to notices on:

*Please note additional guidance and information on the data adequacy process can be found here.

The UK Government has also released specific advice on the e-commerce directive.

The UK Government intends to fully remove the eCommerce Directive’s Country of Origin principle from UK legislation, to bring EEA online service providers in scope of UK laws.

As this principle is found in a number of pieces of legislation it will be removed at different points, when parliamentary time allows.

The full guidance from the UK Government can be found here.

As of 1 January 2021, regardless of the outcome of negotiations, to the rules of trade in both goods and services and will change. This is an unavoidable fact of negotiations in light of the negotiating positions of both the UK and the EU and due to the fact an extension of the transition period, as is, is no longer possible.  

While the notices and guidance provided above are incomplete due to the ongoing negotiations it should be of use to members who will want to begin preparations for the end of the transition period. Members should also be ready to update their preparations as more information becomes available as negotiations continue in the run up to 31 December 2020 when the transition period ends.

techUK continues to engage with both the EU and the UK Government to try and secure the best possible outcome for the UK and European tech sectors in the negotiations.