With a positive vote of both the European Parliament and the Council at the end of April, the EU has ratified the Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishing the terms for future cooperation with the UK. To minimize disruption, the agreement has been provisionally applied since the beginning of 2021.
On Dec. 31, 2020, the UK will leave the EU single market and customs union. Regardless of any agreement reached with the EU, the end of the Brexit transition period will affect citizens, businesses, as well as travel between the UK and EU. Therefore, businesses need to prepare themselves for the upcoming changes.
UK chemical exports in the second quarter of this year have steadied but uncertainty looms for the rest of 2020 with risks from both Covid-19 and Brexit, said the Chemical Industries Association (CIA).
The UK will not participate in a plan to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine to Europe’s most vulnerable citizens first. Tim Barrow, the UK’s ambassador to the EU, said in a letter to the European Commission the British government would not join the effort because as a non- EU member it would have no decision-making power in negotiations about purchases.
