BREXIT: White smoke becomes London fog –  businesses should study the current draft

The publication on Wednesday 14 November of the 585-page draft UK Withdrawal Agreement means that there is now a potential deal on the table.

While the EU and Ireland seem likely to back it, clearly the approval of the UK Parliament is far from certain. With on-going resignations from the UK Government, threats of a no-confidence motion in the Leader of the Conservative Party and the general political chaos in Westminster, it is tempting to ignore the draft document and just watch the politics.

However, business leaders could ignore this document at their peril.

Take time to read the draft document

Businesses who do business in and with Northern Ireland and the UK generally need to know what is in this draft document.

Even if there is no agreement on this particular draft document, EU negotiating history proves that each draft builds on earlier drafts. For example, the adopted Lisbon Treaty built on the abandoned Constitutional Treaty. The earlier rejected Nice Treaty was very similar to the final approved one. Last Wednesday's night draft has grown from the 130-page draft in March. So any final agreement would probably have elements of last Wednesday's draft agreement. If businesses study it now, they still have time to lobby and influence any final agreement.

What does the current draft contain?

The current draft contains detail on:

  • Northern Ireland and trading into, and with, Northern Ireland – any business doing business in NI should read carefully the protocol on Northern Ireland including the annexes. It may seem an arduous task but it is important to understand how the post-Brexit regime could well apply to NI trade
  • how trade, customs, tariffs and border checks would work
  • employment rules
  • citizens' rights
  • environmental rules
  • state aid, competition and merger control
  • geographical Indications for food.

A&L Goodbody is preparing and publishing guides on various aspects of it but in the interim, businesses would find it useful to read some of the FAQs issued by the European Commission:

We are not writing off this document just yet. There is little appetite in Brussels to go back and renegotiate. The bluster and fluster in Westminster will continue. But a mutation of this document may eventually be put in place.  In the interim, if business leaders want to know what the post-Brexit landscape might look like, this is as good a glimpse as one can get. So it is useful to know what it looks like…while there is still time to influence it.

For further information, contact Dr Vincent Power, Partner, or any member of the EU, Competition & Procurement team at A&L Goodbody. 

Date published: 16 November 2018