The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union on January 31, 2020 and will no longer be a Member State of the European Union.
February 1st marks a transition period that ends on December 31, 2020, which can be extended once by up to one to two years, though such a decision must be taken jointly by the EU and UK before July 1, 2020.
In a guide for sellers, eBay UK explained what sellers should do next to get ready for Brexit and said, “Brexit will definitely mean changes to trading rules once the transition period has ended. But we won’t know more until the UK and EU have agreed these. We’ll be monitoring the situation over the coming months and will keep you updated on the latest advice from the Government on what you need to do to prepare for Brexit.”
Here’s the notice eBay posted on its UK announcement board on Friday:
Last year, we communicated the steps sellers needed to take to prepare for a ‘no deal’ Brexit on January 31 i.e. The date when Britain would leave the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.
A ‘no deal’ Brexit will almost certainly not happen this month. Following the UK General Election, Britain is currently scheduled to leave the European Union on 31 January 2020 and we now expect that the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and EU will be ratified. The Government has now formally ceased planning for a ‘no deal’ scenario and the transitional arrangements will mean that EU Customs and Single Market rules will apply until at least the end of December 2020.
The good news is that you can continue to trade under current rules until the end of 2020.
We’ll be monitoring the situation over the coming months and will keep you updated on the latest advice from the Government on what you need to do to prepare for Brexit.
Find out more on our dedicated Brexit page here.
More information about Brexit can be found on the Europa.eu website on a page titled, “Questions and Answers on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020.”
Update 1/26/2020: We wanted to add a link to the Guardian newspaper which has more details and reported: “The EU’s negotiating position, known as a mandate, is due to be adopted on 25 February by EU ministers attending a general affairs council, and formal negotiations will then begin on the future relationship.”
