July 14, 2020 European Commission publishes communication on Brexit readiness On 9 July 2020, the European Commission (the Commission) published a new communication ahead of Brexit, titled "Getting ready for changes: Communication on readiness at the end of the transition period between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK)."1 The Commission has urged businesses that "there is no room for complacency or postponing readiness and adaptation measures in anticipation that an agreement would ensure continuity, because a large number of changes will be inevitable." The Commission's communication The communication sets out where businesses will need to adapt, regardless of any free trade agreement (FTA) which could be agreed between the EU and the UK by the end of 2020. The main areas of change include:
The Commission has also announced that it is in the process of reviewing all the stakeholder notices (102 in total) which were published prior to the conclusion of the Withdrawal. They have updated 51 of these, with further updates expected over the coming weeks and months. Next steps The publication by the Commission of this document highlights potential issues and focus points for contingency planning across supply chain, trade in goods, trade in services, talent, regulations and compliance, tax and finance, legal and contracts, and IT and data. ——————————————— ——————————————— For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following: Ernst & Young LLP (United Kingdom), London
Ernst & Young LLP (United Kingdom), Manchester
Ernst & Young (Ireland), Dublin
EY Brussels, Diegem
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