Update on the implementation of the citizens’ rights provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement

Summary:

The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union at midnight (CET) on 31 January 2020 and the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (the Withdrawal Agreement) entered into force. The Withdrawal Agreement establishes the conditions for the UK's orderly withdrawal from the EU and focuses on the issues that the parties identified as key to ensure this. The protection of the rights of citizens, both UK and EU-27, who had exercised free movement and made life choices based on the UK's membership of the EU, was a priority for both sides.

Part Two of the Withdrawal Agreement is designed to offer this protection, but for UK nationals it is in certain important areas more limited than the rights guaranteed by EU citizenship. In addition, the UK's interpretation of the citizens' rights provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement has called into question some of the protections offered to EU citizens by the Agreement. This briefing examines the implementation of the citizens' rights provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement, with a focus on case law and recent legislative developments.

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