Legal Consequences of Brexit

On October, 27 Ian Lloyd, chief researcher of the International Laboratory for IT and IP Law, delivered a lecture on "Legal consequences of Brexit". Within this theme, Professor Lloyd highlighted the major events preceding the exit of the UK from the European Union.

Professor made a critical analysis of the referendum procedure, as well as the results of the referendum. Professor Lloyd also noted that in the exit process there are still a lot of unresolved issues.

The greatest difficulty is the resolution of legal difficulties. At this point, the whole array of legal acts adopted by EU bodies, including the regulations and directives, retain their effect in regard to the UK. The European Union regulations become part of the legislation of each EU country immediately, while directives require implementation into national legislation. Accordingly, when the UK exits from the EU, regulations will no longer have legal force for the UK. The question of whether directives and national acts adopted on their basis preserve their power, is still open.

In particular the exit of the UK out of the European Union will have a considerable impact on the development of information law. EU "General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR) will come into force in May 2018, at which time the UK will, apparently, be in the process of emerging from the European Union. In this regard, there is a possibility that the Regulation rules will not apply to the United Kingdom.

Apparently, the changes associated with Brexit will also affect intellectual property law and telecommunications law.