On November 25, 2018, the Government of United Kingdom and the Heads of the remaining European Union Member States reached agreement on the terms of a Withdrawal Agreement.

According to a release by the European Commission, “The Withdrawal Agreement establishes the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the EU. It ensures that the withdrawal will happen in an orderly manner, and offers legal certainty once the Treaties and EU law will cease to apply to the UK.”  Both the UK and EU Parliaments need to accept this Withdrawal Agreement before it can be written into law and implemented.  The UK Parliament is scheduled to debate and vote on the Agreement on December 11, 2018 and must be accepted prior to the European Parliament endorsing it.

The acceptance of the Withdrawal Agreement will allow the previously agreed transition period from March 29, 2019 to December 31, 2020 to be implemented. Key points with respect to customs and trade include, but are not limited to, the following:

•             During the transition, all EU regulations will continue to apply to the UK;

•             The UK will remain in the European customs territory, and International Trade Agreements will stay in place. After the transition period, the UK will negotiate its own trade deals;

•             The transition period could be extended, if decided by the Joint Committee before July 1, 2020.

The Withdrawal Agreement is supplemented with a joint political (non-binding) statement with regards to the goals of negotiations on a future trading and customs environment that should take place during the transition period.

The EU press release can be accessed here

The full withdrawal agreement can be viewed here and the draft political statement can be accessed here.