This article, or one very similar to it first appeared on AEIP’s Brexitspotlight. The 3rd deadline of the post Brexit Future relationship passed on the 30th June. The deadlines were on the issues of cross border data adequacy, northern Irish meat product movement, the end of equivalence for share depositaries and the end of the grace period to allow EU citizens resident in the UK to apply to stay. It looks like the security depository equivalence was sorted in Sept. 2020 and the EU have granted a three month extension on moving chilled meat from Great Britain to Northern Ireland as required by the treaty’s Northern Ireland protocol[1]. The Commission flagged the agreement of a data adequacy ruling earlier in the year and finally agreed it with two days to go. The parliament is more sanguine. The EDPB is also more cautious, and we expect the CJEU to be so too. Whenever the CJEU has ruled, it has ruled in favour of citizens, whereas the ECtHR gives nation states significant leeway.
Both the Commission and Parliament made much of the fact that the UK was the first country ever to leave the acquis but may have underestimated the fact that the UK never fully implemented the ’95 directive, that UK courts weakened the legal protection and that they took an expansive interpretation of member state powers defined in the GDPR Article 23 Restrictions. These are powers reserved for member states, not 3rd countries and the UK’s immigration exception means that EU citizens in the UK are not afforded all the protections of the GDPR as envisaged by the EU.
Data Adequacy is important for SME’s as there are alternative means by which cross border data can be authorised, these are “standard model clauses” for inter company transfers and “binding corporate rules” for intra-company transfers. These have a not insignificant compliance cost and are easier for large companies than small but it will be less attractive for large EU based companies to deal with multiple contracts with small companies, brutally put, it is not worth the effort for them.
The final deadline is that the 30th is/was the final date for EU Citizens/UK Residents to apply for “settled status”. Of course, the systems broke and it would seem there remain large numbers of people without proof they are settled, jeopardising their access to work, shelter, health care, benefits and even bank accounts. The astonishing thing is that 6m people applied and according to the Govt, only 2% have been rejected[2]. The Govt. proposes to contact, those it knows about and ask them to regularise their position, although now they will have to justify why they did not apply in time. While 6m have applied, we don’t know how many are in jeopardy of having the “hostile environment” applied to them.
C4’s fact check looks at this and points out that there will be a 28 grace period, people will be reminded, after which people may be liable to “enforcement action”. The results of this may be deportation, or other restrictions of the hostile environment. The C4 article finishes with paragraph, answering the question, “Have promises been broken?” They conclude the answer is “Yes” and name Johnson, Patel and Gove as specific offenders.
There is a further deadline at the end of July, where the UK needs to introduce import controls on goods imported from the EU. While many eyes will be on the channel ports and the Kent lorry park and pissoir, a more serious problem will occur across the Irish Sea, which may be one reason why the Govt. in the person of Lord Frost, is getting more manic in its demands to renegotiate the North Irish Protocol.
6m people have applied for settled status, not one[3] them will have the vote for Parliamentary elections and many will be paying taxes and are long term residents. They need to be given the vote.
This article, or one very similar to it first appeared on AEIP’s Brexitspotlight.
[1] The NIP is designed to allow Northern Ireland to remain part of the single market, so that there is no need for border infrastructure along the NI/Eire border. It is to be placed in the Irish Sea, or more accurately et the Northern Irish end of the NI/GB trader routes.
[2] This comes from https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-eu-citizens-who-miss-settlement-scheme-deadline-wont-lose-all-their-rights-overnight and I do not have the split between settled, which is indefinite and pre-settled which is a 5 year leave to remain.
[3] The UK claims to be negotiating reciprocal treaties with the EU member states on voting rights, but it seems only for local authority elections.
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