Brexit – further statutory instruments for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit published

The Government continues to publish draft statutory instruments to make the changes to legislation required in the event of a hard Brexit, i.e. if the UK leaves on 29 March 2019 without a deal.

The draft Regulations published in the last fortnight that will be of interest to corporate practitioners relate to:

• Market abuse – The draft Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 will address deficiencies in market abuse legislation arising from Brexit. The Regulations will amend retained EU law relating to market abuse, including the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), other supplementary EU legislation made under MAR and the UK legislation which complemented MAR, to ensure that the relevant legislation continues to operate effectively at the point at which the UK leaves the EU. In particular, they ensure that UK markets and financial instruments continue to be subject to the same requirements and protections as under MAR and give the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) power to enforce the regime.
• Listing regime – The draft Official Listing of Securities, Prospectus and Transparency (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 will make amendments to retained EU law related to the Prospectus, Transparency and Consolidated Admissions and Reporting Directives to ensure that they continue to operate effectively once the UK leaves the EU. These Regulations will underpin the proposed changes to the Listing Rules, Prospectus Rules, Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules on which the FCA is consulting (see our corporate update 2018/24).
• Contract – The draft Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations and Non-Contractual Obligations (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 are intended to ensure that EU rules that determine the law applicable to contractual and non-contractual obligations continue to operate effectively in domestic law after Brexit. The Rome I and Rome II Regulations currently establish the rules to determine which country's laws apply in contractual and non-contractual matters where there are cross-border issues. These draft Regulations will incorporate the substantive rules in Rome I and Rome II into UK domestic law so that the rules will continue to apply (as amended) in the UK post-Brexit.

With ongoing uncertainty regarding the UK Parliament’s acceptance or rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration on the future relationship between the UK and EU, we have updated the Withdrawal Agreement Q&A section of our Brexit Legal Guide to take into account the latest developments.

To read the full guide, please click here.