They came, they argued, they agreed (but now minus Raab and McVey).
This evening the Cabinet signed up to the Draft Withdrawal Agreement, all 586 pages of it – and also the seven page outline of the Political Declaration on the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
All eyes are now focussed on the special status of Northern Ireland in the ‘backstop’ in the Agreement and on the inability of the UK unilaterally to withdraw from that agreement in article 21 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Less controversial are the provisions of the Agreement on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, and Insolvency that are to be found in Articles 66 and 67, as follows.
Applicable law.
ARTICLE 66
Applicable law in contractual and non-contractual matters
In the United Kingdom, the following acts shall apply as follows:
(a) Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council shall apply in respect of contracts concluded before the end of the transition period;
(b) Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council shall apply in respect of events giving rise to damage, where such events occurred before the end of the transition period.
Jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 67
Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judicial decisions, and related cooperation between central authorities
- In the United Kingdom, as well as in the Member States in situations involving the United Kingdom, in respect of legal proceedings instituted before the end of the transition period and in respect of proceedings or actions that are related to such legal proceedings pursuant to Articles 29, 30 and 31 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament …the following acts or provisions shall apply:
(a) the provisions regarding jurisdiction of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012
Insolvency
Article 67
- In the United Kingdom, as well as in the Member States in situations involving the United Kingdom, the following provisions shall apply as follows:
(c) Regulation (EU) 2015/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council shall apply to insolvency proceedings, and actions referred to in Article 6(1) of that Regulation, provided that the main proceedings were opened before the end of the transition period;
For financial service providers, the following statement on p2 of the Political Declaration is of interest.
“Commencement of equivalence assessments by both Parties as soon as possible after the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union, endeavouring to conclude these assessments before the end of June 2020.”
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