At the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (“EU-Japan EPA”) ceased to apply to trade with the UK.  In anticipation of this change the UK and Japan signed on 23 October 2020 a “roll-over” or continuity trade agreement that largely mirrors the terms of the EU-Japan … Read more

On 1 January 2021, with the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK entered the real world of Brexit. This has immediate implications for merger control both in the UK and the EU. Any companies involved in deals need to be aware of the impact. Read more

Last week both the CMA and the European Commission published their final guidance on the impact of Brexit on competition law after the end of the transition period: Read more

The Government continues to prepare the ground for the regulation of public procurement after the Brexit transition period expires on 31 December 2020.  On 19 November it enacted the Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020) (PPAR 2020).  These amend the existing UK procurement regulations in order to reflect the fact that the UK … Read more

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU creates a number of unprecedented issues for international agreements in which the EU participates, whether by itself, together with its Member States or even where the EU it is not a party but to which its Member States have become parties acting on behalf of the  … Read more

On 10 February 2020, the UK initiated its first so-called “transition review” trade defence investigation. The investigation concerns EU anti-dumping duties imposed via Commission Implementing Regulation 2015/110 on certain welded tubes and pipes of iron or non-alloy steel originating in Belarus, China, and Russia. The current EU anti-dumping duties range from 10.1% to 90.6%.  They … Read more

On 31 January 2020, at 11pm GMT, the UK ceased to be a Member State of the EU and the transition period provided for in Article 126 of the Withdrawal Agreement started to run. This briefing looks at the provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement that are relevant for merger control, both during the transition period … Read more

On 10 September 2019 the UK Government published the text of a second Competition Brexit SI, the Competition (Amendment etc.)(EU Exit)(No2) Regulations 2019 (the new Regulations) which make a number of changes to the original Competition (Amendment etc.)(EU Exit) Regulation 2019 (the principal Regulations).  The principal Regulations are discussed in an earlier blog post here. … Read more