Freight News

Commission completes no deal preparations

[ March 26, 2019   //   Chris ]

The European Commission has completed its preparations for the UK to leave the European Union without a deal, an increasingly likely possibility, it said.

While the European Union continues to hope that it will not be the case, if the Withdrawal Agreement is not ratified by 29 March, a “no-deal” scenario may occur on 12 April.

In this case, the UK will become a third country without any transitionary arrangements. All EU primary and secondary law will cease to apply to the UK from that moment onwards. There will be no transition period, as provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement

The EU would be required to immediately apply World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules at the UK border, including customs controls, sanitary and phytosanitary standards and verification of compliance with EU norms. Despite the preparations by Member States’ customs authorities, these could cause significant delays at the border, says the Commission.

Tags: European Commission; Brexit