(1)

On 30 January 2020, the Council concluded 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 (3) (the ‘Withdrawal Agreement’). That Agreement entered into force on 1 February 2020.

(2)

On 29 April 2021, the Council concluded, on behalf of the Union, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (4) (the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’). That Agreement was applied provisionally as of 1 January 2021 and entered into force on 1 May 2021.

(3)

Both the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provide that a Party may adopt certain measures in the specific cases and subject to the conditions and procedures laid down therein. Those measures may entail the suspension of certain obligations under the Agreement concerned.

(4)

The Union and the United Kingdom may conclude other bilateral agreements between them that constitute supplementing agreements to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and such supplementing agreements are an integral part of the overall bilateral relations as governed by that Agreement and form part of the overall framework. It is recalled that, in accordance with Article 774(3) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, that Agreement neither applies to Gibraltar nor has any effects in that territory.

(5)

Should the need arise to adopt unilateral measures as provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the Union should be in a position, in the light of the Union’s general interest, to make appropriate use of the instruments available to it swiftly and in a proportionate, effective and flexible manner, while fully involving Member States. The Union should also be able to take appropriate measures if effective recourse to binding dispute settlement under the Withdrawal Agreement or the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is not possible because the United Kingdom does not cooperate in making such recourse possible. It is therefore necessary to lay down rules and procedures governing the adoption of such measures.

(6)

It is recalled that the procedure for adopting autonomous measures in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) pursuant to this Regulation is without prejudice to the continued and permanent exercise by the Council of its policy-making, coordination and decision-making functions conferred by the Treaties insofar as the implementation of the agreements between the Union and the United Kingdom is concerned.

(7)

To give effect to the powers laid down in Article 16(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the internal decision-making in relation to the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is reflected in Council Decisions (EU) 2020/135 (6) and (EU) 2021/689 (7). In order for the Council to be in a position to exercise fully its policy-making, coordination and decision-making functions in that regard, the Council should be kept continuously informed on a permanent and regular basis of the implementation of those Agreements, including about all difficulties that might arise, in particular possible breaches of those Agreements and other situations that may give rise to measures taken pursuant to this Regulation. In that regard, the Council should be duly informed in a timely manner of possible responses at the disposal of the Union to ensure a full and proper implementation of those Agreements, as well as of the follow-up to any measures taken.

(8)

The European Parliament should be immediately and fully informed, as provided for in Article 218(10) TFEU, allowing it to exercise fully its prerogatives in accordance with the Treaties. The Commission should inform the European Parliament in a timely manner of all difficulties that may arise, in particular possible breaches of the Withdrawal Agreement and of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and other situations that might result in measures being taken pursuant to this Regulation.

(9)

The rules and procedures laid down in this Regulation should take precedence over any provisions of Union law adopted on the basis of the TFEU that govern the same subject matter.

(10)

In order to ensure that this Regulation remains fit for purpose, the Commission should undertake, within three years of its entry into force, a review of its scope and implementation and report its findings to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. That review should, where appropriate, be accompanied by relevant legislative proposals.

(11)

In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, and in particular in order to ensure the swift, effective and flexible exercise of the corresponding rights of the Union under the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to adopt the measures taken pursuant to this Regulation and to adopt, as appropriate, measures restricting trade or other activities. Those powers should also extend to the amendment, suspension or repeal of the adopted measures. They should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. Given that the envisaged measures entail the adoption of acts of general scope, and that most of the envisaged measures relate to the areas referred to in Article 2(2), point (b), of that Regulation, the examination procedure should be used for the adoption of those measures. The Commission should adopt immediately applicable implementing acts where, in duly justified cases, imperative grounds of urgency so require for the appropriate protection of the Union’s interests.

(12)

When the Council decides pursuant to Article 43(3) TFEU to suspend, in whole or in part, access to Union waters under Heading Five of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement by vessels of the United Kingdom for fisheries, it should take into account the effectiveness of such suspension in inducing compliance of the United Kingdom with the relevant agreement and any specific criteria established therein. Such suspension should be implemented in relation to individual vessels of the United Kingdom in accordance with Title III of Regulation (EU) 2017/2403 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8).

(13)

Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to lay down rules and procedures governing the exercise of the Union’s rights under the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and to empower the Commission to adopt the necessary measures including, as appropriate, restrictions in trade, investment or other activities within the scope of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. Moreover, since only the Union is Party to the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, action at the level of international law in respect of those Agreements can only be taken by the Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,