The 31st December 2021 marked one year since the end of the Brexit transition period. With the Trade and Co-operation Agreement now in place to govern the new relationship between the European Union (EU) and the UK, businesses in the UK are still feeling the ongoing effects of Brexit in many areas:
Supply chains
The combined impact of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect both domestic and international supply chains. Businesses can help protect themselves from supply chain shocks by ensuring their terms & conditions and contracts contain robust delivery terms, force majeure provisions and remedies for dealing with late delivery. Having these set out clearly can help to avoid disputes and additional costs in the event supply chains are impacted.
Tariffs
With the UK now outside the EU trading bloc, UK importers and exporters must deal with an entirely new set of international trade agreements, domestic regulations and customs duties. Ensuring compliance with these will help avoid delays and additional costs at the border, whether importing or exporting. Allocating responsibility for increased tariffs and/or longer delivery times in contracts is essential to provide certainty and predictability for businesses.
Data
In June 2021 the EU confirmed an adequacy decision for the UK on data transfers, meaning data can flow freely between entities in the UK and the EU. However, the UK government has signaled an intention to reform the data protection regime, and the adequacy decision is subject to change if the UK diverges too far from the EU’s data protection regime. In addition, the newly published UK International Data Transfer Agreement and associated addendum are currently working their way through parliament, meaning further changes are on the horizon in the data protection space.