Written by Marcin Szczepański (2nd edition, updated on 16.06.2023).
The Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the EU and the UK set the terms for the UK’s departure from the Union and a framework for future relations. Tensions surfaced, mainly related to fisheries and the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland (the Protocol), which is a part of the WA. The UK had threatened to take ‘unilateral measures’ on issues such as border controls. For its part, the EU launched legal actions against the UK for failing to fulfil its obligations. In May 2023, the EU adopted a regulation empowering the Commission to act by means of implementing acts to enforce and implement the two agreements. The new Regulation means that the Commission may impose restrictions on trade, investment or other activities if the UK is in breach the terms of WA and TCA. The new law entered into force in April 2023.
Versions
- June 2023: Rules for exercising the Union’s rights in implementing and enforcing EU UK agreements (2nd edition)
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the exercise of the Union’s rights in the implementation and enforcement of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom, of the other part. |
Committees responsible: | Foreign Affairs (AFET); International Trade (INTA); Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) | COM(2022) 89 11.3.2022 |
Rapporteurs: | Danuta Maria Hübner (EPP, Poland); Seán Kelly (EPP, Ireland); Andreas Schieder (S&D, Austria) | 2022/0068(COD) |
Shadow rapporteurs: | David McAllister (EPP, Germany); Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portugal); Charles Goerens (Renew, Luxembourg); Nathalie Loiseau (Renew, France); Francois Alfonsi (Greens, France); Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens, France); Anna Fotyga (ECR, Poland); Helmut Scholz (The Left, Germany); Idoia Villanueva-Ruiz (The Left, Spain) | Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) |
Next steps expected: | Regulation (EU) 2023/657 OJ L 83, 22.3.2023, pp. 1-6 |

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