It's about time: The EU and the United Kingdom have reached an agreement after all. On December 29, 2020, the 27 member states of the European Union gave their commitment to the provisional treaty. The agreement brings to an end a long period of uncertainty and disagreement.
The parties have avoided a hard Brexit ("no-deal scenario") at the last minute after all. One might have thought the whole thing was a sequel to the novel "The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende. The United Kingdom's exit from the European Union kept the EU busy for more than three years - and an end to the process was not in sight for a long time.
However, with his clear election victory in mid-December 2019, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson then ensured clear conditions - at least as far as the execution of the exit was concerned. On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom officially left the European Union.
However, negotiations with the EU continued: In a transitional phase until at least the end of 2020, the EU negotiated with the UK what future relations should look like. Accordingly, little changed for companies until then - the UK remained in the EU single market and part of the customs union until the end of 2020.
A provisional partnership treaty - a 1,200-page document - has now been in force since January 1. The treaty regulates the EU's relations with the United Kingdom and has yet to be finally ratified by the European Parliament. The partnership treaty ("The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement") creates the framework for fair competition - from trade issues to labor law standards, from energy policy to research and development.
Specifically, the European Union and the United Kingdom agreed on three agreements: a trade and cooperation agreement, a civil nuclear energy agreement and an information security agreement.
Legally, the United Kingdom is now a "third country." It is therefore no longer part of the Single Market and the Customs Union. This means, for example, that customs regulations now apply that previously did not.