Clifford Chance has relaunched its Brexit Response Desk to field enquiries in the run up to the end of the transition agreement between the EU and the UK – trade deal or no trade deal.

The ‘hotline’ is being fired back up having originally been set up in the immediate aftermath of the referendum vote in June 2016. It will operate throughout the Christmas holiday period and into the New Year and promises to bring together experts from across the EU and UK covering areas including contracts, supply chains, treasury, passporting, HR, IP and data.

The firm points out that even if a deal is agreed before the transition agreement ends on 31 December, teething problems are inevitable ‘in any scenario’.

Immediate risks it highlights include those associated with border delays including customs hold-ups and supply chain disruption as well as people issues, such as the ability of staff to visit EU countries on ‘day one’ for business continuity reasons.

There will also be particular risks associated with Britain’s relationship with Northern Ireland, especially if there isn’t a deal.

Meanwhile critical issues still need to be settled, notably the sharing of data between the EU and the UK and the status of London’s burgeoning financial services sector, given that the EU is yet to grant UK-regulated companies the ability to passport their authorisation into the bloc under the equivalence system.

Research published by CC in 2018 estimated that red tape resulting from a no deal would cost UK firms an additional £27bn and companies based in the EU £31bn annually, with the chemicals, metals/mining, aerospace and financial services sectors bearing the brunt of the impact.

Last month, the more than 4,000 England and Wales qualified solicitors who had gained admission to the Irish Roll of Solicitors in the hope it would allow them to practise EU law were told they had to be based in Ireland, or show they intended to move there, in order to obtain practising certificates.

Further reading

The UK after Brexit and Trump - the price of going it alone