The process of Brexit will take many years, and the implications for our clients’ businesses will unfold over time. Our MoFo Brexit Task Force is coordinating Brexit-related legal analysis across all of our offices, and working with clients on key concerns and issues, now and in the coming weeks and months. We will also continue to provide MoFo Brexit Briefings on a range of key issues. We are here to support you in any and every way that we can.

There are several relationship models that could be implemented between the UK and the EU following Brexit, including the free trade agreement, WTO arrangement, customs union, EFTA membership or EEA membership. Whilst EEA membership is the only relationship model alternative to the EU membership currently allowing full access to the EU single market for goods and services, this model may not be acceptable to the UK from a political perspective, as it requires the UK to accept free movement of people from the EU and make contributions to the EU budget, issues which were central to the debate in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum. For the purposes of this briefing, we consider the legal implications that Brexit could have if the UK does not join the EEA, nor negotiates a bespoke arrangement with the EU, such that it no longer has access to the EU single market in services via the EEA membership.