"Brexit" and some preparations for a "no deal" scenario - thoughts on a little bit of proposed companies legislation
Amidst all the hype and frenzy of the current parliamentary "Brexit" farrago, it is worth remembering that somewhere quietly in the background the toilers of the Civil Service are working to put in place legislation to deal with the unintended legal consequences of a "no deal" crash out from the EU.
One small example of this - which admittedly is unlikely to appeal to anybody except hardened corporate and partnership lawyers - is the third edition of the draft Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships and Partnerships ( Amendment etc) (U Exit) Regulations 2019, which the UK Government issued on 14th January 2019.
The draft Regulations were prepared under s.8 European Union ( Withdrawal) Act 2018 which enables the UK Government (subject to appropriate Parliamentary scrutiny) to rectify "deficiencies" in UK law arsing from the embedding of relevant existing EU law within UK law at the point of the UK's Withdrawal from the EU. The Regulations would apply in the event of a "no deal" Brexit.
The draft Regulations seek to amend UK legislation, and in particular the Companies Act 2006, so that references to appropriate EEA institutions and bodies are replaced by references to their corresponding UK counterparts and so that certain UK legislation (such as the Companies ( Cross-Border Mergers) Regulations 2007) is removed from the UK statute book altogether on exit day (subject to transitional provisions) where UK entities can no longer benefit from the related EU provisions.
The object is that (again subject to transitional provisions) from exit day EEA institutions and bodies are treated in the same way as non-EEA institutions and bodies.
There is much work to be done on the adaptation of UK law to a post- Brexit world in the event of a "no deal" scenario and it seems unlikely that all the possible permutations have been worked out in advance. It is good to know, however, that the UK Government is on the case.
