Regulation (EU) 2019/26 complementing EU type-approval legislation with regard to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union

Summary:

On 4 June 2018 the European Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation on type-approval legislation in the context of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the Regulation on 8 January 2019.

Further information:

The United Kingdom has submitted notification of its intention to withdraw from the Union pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This means that, unless a ratified withdrawal agreement establishes another date, all Union primary and secondary law will cease to apply to the United Kingdom from 30 March 2019, ('the withdrawal date'). The United Kingdom will then become a third country.

Subject to any transitional arrangement that may be contained in a possible withdrawal agreement, the EU legislative framework governing type approval for a number of products will no longer apply to the United Kingdom as of the withdrawal date. This also means that the United Kingdom type-approval authority will no longer be able to fulfil any of the powers and obligations of a type-approval authority under EU legislation.

Manufacturers who obtained approvals in the United Kingdom in the past will thus need to obtain new approvals from EU-27 type approval authorities, including for products already in production, in order to ensure continued compliance with EU legislation and retain access to the Union market.

While the legal framework for these products sets procedural requirements harmonising the way in which type-approvals are granted across the EU, some safeguards make it difficult for relevant manufacturers to take the necessary measures to ensure regulatory compliance and business continuity after the EU acquis ceases to apply to the United Kingdom.

The proposed Regulation aims to address these issues by modifying temporarily and in a very targeted manner the existing rules to allow concerned manufacturers to obtain new EU-27 approvals that replace their existing UK type-approved products.

Official

EUR-Lex: COM(2018)397: Proposal for a Regulation complementing EU type-approval legislation with regard to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2018:397:FIN

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