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As the U.K. prepares to leave the EU — with or without a "deal" — at 11 pm on 29 March 2019, the U.K. Government has published a whole raft of draft secondary legislation to onshore EU legislation. The draft U.K. legislation is designed largely to ensure that, as required by the U.K.'s European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, there will be no deficiencies or problems with respect to the effective "onshoring" of existing EU law into U.K. domestic law with effect from 29 March 2019 (if there is a "no deal Brexit") or the end of any "transition period" that is agreed in the withdrawal agreement as part of a Brexit deal. The draft legislation corrects a limited range of deficiencies in directly applicable EU Regulations that will be retained on exit and in the existing U.K. law that implements the requirements of EU Directives.
Of particular interest to the readership of this newsletter will be the draft legislation published in the area of securities and financial services regulation. This draft legislation includes, for example, legislation addressing deficiencies in the way in which the provisions of the Prospectus Directive, Transparency Directive, Market Abuse Regulation, public takeover regulation under the U.K. Takeover Code, Accounts Directive, European Company Statute, AIFM Directive, MiFID II, EMIR, Benchmarks Regulation and Securitisation Regulation, etc., would apply in U.K. domestic law after Brexit
In most, if not all cases, the draft legislation is not intended to introduce into any policy changes, other than to reflect the U.K.'s new position outside the EU and to help smooth the U.K.'s transition to fully leaving the EU. However, necessarily, there are various decision points that U.K. legislators have needed to take in relation to territorial scope and third-country issues as well as future relationships.
Once there is greater clarity and certainty about the exact timing and legal basis of Brexit, we may, as appropriate, issue an update and further summary of key aspects of certain of this Brexit legislation.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
