BREXIT

The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community,  is a treaty between the (EU) and Euratom, and the (UK), signed on 24 January 2020, setting the terms of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and Euratom. The UK gave its approval to the agreement on 23 January 2020 and the UK government deposited Britain’s instrument of ratification on 29 January 2020. The agreement was ratified by the Council of the EU on 30 January 2020. The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union took effect on 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January 2020, and at that moment the Withdrawal Agreement entered into force, as per its article 185. The Withdrawal Agreement concluded between the European Union and the United Kingdom establishes the terms of the United Kingdom’s orderly withdrawal from the EU, in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union. The Withdrawal Agreement entered into force on 1 February 2020, after having been agreed on 17 October 2019. It consists amongst others of a Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.

What the Withdrawal Agreement covers

  • Common provisions: setting out standard clauses for the proper understanding and operation of the Withdrawal Agreement.
  • Citizens’ rights: protecting the life choices of more than 5 million EU citizens in the United Kingdom, and over 1 million United Kingdom nationals in EU countries, safeguarding their right to stay and ensuring that they can continue to contribute to their communities.
  • Separation issues: ensured a smooth winding-down and enabled an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom, including, amongst others:
    • enabled goods placed on the market before the end of the transition under EU rules to continue to their destination
    • protects existing intellectual property rights including geographical indications
    • winded down on-going procedures related to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and other administrative and judicial procedures
    • addressed the use and protection of data and information exchanged before the end of the transition period
    • addressed issues related to Euratom
  • The financial settlement: ensuring that the United Kingdom and the EU honour all financial obligations undertaken while the United Kingdom was a member of the EU.
  • The overall governance structure of the Withdrawal Agreement: ensuring the effective management, implementation and enforcement of the agreement, including appropriate dispute settlement mechanisms.
  • Ireland: a legally-operative solution that avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland, protects the all-island economy and the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement in all its dimensions, and safeguards the integrity of the EU Single Market.
  • Cyprus: a protocol on the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) in Cyprus, protecting the interests of Cypriots who live and work in the Sovereign Base Areas following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU.
  • Gibraltar: a Protocol on Gibraltar, facilitating close cooperation between Spain and the United Kingdom in respect of Gibraltar on the implementation of citizens’ rights within the Withdrawal Agreement. The Protocol also concerns administrative cooperation between appropriate authorities in a number of policy areas.
The implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement requires measures both at EU and at Member State level.

The Windsor Framework

24 March 2023: The EU-UK Joint Committee adopted a decision laying down the arrangements relating to the Windsor Framework. More details: 27 February 2023: A political agreement in principle by the Commission and UK government on a new way forward on the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland Today, the European Commission and the Government of the United Kingdom reached a political agreement in principle on the Windsor Framework. This constitutes a comprehensive set of joint solutions aimed at addressing, in a definitive way, the practical challenges faced by citizens and businesses in Northern Ireland, thereby providing them with lasting certainty and predictability. The joint solutions cover, amongst other things new arrangements on customs, agri-food, medicines, VAT and excise, as well as specific instruments designed to ensure that the voices of the people of Northern Ireland are better heard on specific issues particularly relevant to the communities there. These new arrangements are underpinned by robust safeguards to ensure the integrity of the EU’s Single Market, to which Northern Ireland has a unique access. For more information: Legal and other texts:

Stakeholder engagement

The voices of Northern Ireland stakeholders are heard through regular engagement at each level of the Withdrawal Agreement structures, also following the Windsor Political Declaration by the European Commission and the Government of the United Kingdom  of 27 February 2023. In addition, the European Commission has introduced enhanced measures to deepen engagement with people and businesses with respect to the limited set of Union law that applies in Northern Ireland. COM statement of 27.2.2023 To facilitate the participation of Northern Ireland stakeholders in consultation processes relating to upcoming policy or legislative initiatives, a list of relevant upcoming initiatives will be made available here.

Upcoming EU Policy initiatives with relevance for Northern Ireland:

Have your say EU Impact Assessments

EU-UK relations: The Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee met on 21 February.

An update regarding the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland (‘the Protocol’) was on the meeting agenda. A series of factsheets on the Protocol in the areas of:: A series of factsheets on the Protocol on Northern Ireland/Ireland in the areas of:
  • supply of medicines
  • customs
  • sanitary and phytosantiary goods (SPS); and
  • stakeholder engagement
are available here More information:

EU-UK relations: Commission delivers on promise to ensure continued supply of medicines to Northern Ireland, as well as Cyprus, Ireland and Malta

On 17 December 2020, the Commission has put forward proposals to ensure the continued long-term supply of medicines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and to address outstanding supply concerns in Cyprus, Ireland and Malta. This means that the same medicines will continue to be available in Northern Ireland at the same time as in the rest of the United Kingdom, while specific conditions ensure that UK-authorised medicines do not enter the Single Market. The proposed bespoke solution reflects the outcome of extensive discussions between Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, and the UK Cabinet Office Minister, David Frost, and takes into account the concerns raised by stakeholders.  With this solution, the Commission is delivering on its intention to facilitate the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland on the ground, in line with the package of far-reaching solutions for Northern Ireland tabled on 13 October 2021. More information:

Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland

Since very early on in the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations, both the United Kingdom and the EU acknowledged the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland. They recognised the necessity of safeguarding the 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement, avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and protecting North-South cooperation. This solution was found in the form of the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, which:
  • Avoids a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, thereby enabling the smooth functioning of the all-island economy and safeguarding the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement in all its dimensions;
  • ensures the integrity of the EU’s Single Market for goods, along with all the guarantees it offers in terms of consumer protection, public and animal health protection, and combatting fraud and trafficking,
The Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland was conceived as a stable and lasting solution, and will apply alongside any agreement on the future partnership. Its substantive provisions start to apply on 1 January 2021.
31 JANUARY 2020
Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland
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Main elements of the Protocol

  • Alignment with EU rules: as of the end of the transition period, Northern Ireland is subject to a limited set of EU rules related to the Single Market for goods and the Customs Union. The Union’s Customs Code, for example, applies to all goods entering or exiting Northern Ireland.
  • Necessary checks and controls must take place at Points of Entry on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom or any other third country. This also means that the UK, acting in respect of Northern Ireland for the implementation of the Protocol, must ensure that, amongst other things, the relevant sanitary and phyto-sanitary (“SPS”) controls are carried out.
  • EU customs duties apply to goods entering Northern Ireland from any other part of the United Kingdom or any other third country unless those goods are not at risk of moving on to the EU.  The Protocol contains a presumption that all goods entering Northern Ireland from a third country (i.e. from any other part of the United Kingdom or from other third countries) are at risk of moving on to the Union. Such goods may only exceptionally be considered “not at risk” of moving on to the Union, if the goods concerned are (i) not subject to commercial processing in Northern Ireland and (ii) fulfil additional conditions for being considered “not at risk” set out inthe Joint Committee Decision on “goods not at risk”. Where it is established, based on these conditions, that goods from any other part of the United Kingdom than Northern Ireland may be considered “not at risk”, no customs duties are applicable; and where it is established, based on these conditions, that goods from any other third country may be considered “not at risk”, the UK’s customs duties are applicable.
  • The application and implementation of the Protocol is the sole responsibility of UK authorities acting in respect of Northern Ireland (Article 12 (1)).
  • In order to live up to their responsibilities pursuant to Article 12 of the Protocol, EU institutions and bodies must be able to monitor the implementation of the Protocol by UK authorities. Article 12 (2) therefore provides for a ‘Union presence’ during any implementation activities by the UK authorities.
  • The Joint Committee Decision 6/2020 sets out practical working arrangements aimed at ensuring an effective exercise of the ‘Union presence’ established by Article 12 of the Protocol.

October 2021 package

On 13 October 2021, the European Commission proposed bespoke arrangements to respond to the difficulties that people in Northern Ireland have been experiencing because of Brexit. This package of measures proposes further flexibilities in the area of food, plant and animal health, customs, medicines and engagement with Northern Irish stakeholders. It proposes a different model for the implementation of the Protocol, facilitating the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, while protecting the Single Market through specific conditions and safeguards, such as robust monitoring, increased market surveillance and enforcement mechanisms. The Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland provides for a new mechanism on “consent”, which gives the Northern Ireland Assembly a decisive voice on the long-term application of relevant EU law made applicable by the Protocol in respect of Northern Ireland. This consent mechanism concerns the application of EU law on goods and customs, the Single Electricity Market, VAT and State aid, as currently foreseen by the Protocol. In practice, this means that four years after the start of application of the Protocol on 1 January 2021, the Assembly can, by simple majority, give consent to the continued application of relevant Union law, or vote to discontinue its application. In the latter case, the Protocol would cease to apply two years later. Every four years thereafter, the Assembly can vote on the continued application of relevant Union law. In case a vote of the Assembly gathers cross-community support for the continued application of relevant Union law, the next vote can only take place eight years thereafter.

More information

Documents

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