e-commerce

Why does Brexit matter for you?

The United Kingdom submitted on 29 March 2017 the 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, 00:00h (CET) ('the withdrawal date'). The United Kingdom will then become a 'third country'.

If no withdrawal agreement is in place on 30 March 2019 the EU Treaties will cease to apply to the UK. It is understood that, should there be "no deal", there will be no transition period and EU law (in particular, the Single Market) will cease to apply to the UK/EU relationship from that date.

Preparing for the withdrawal is not just a matter for EU and national authorities, but also for private parties. As the British government publishes a series of technical notices outlining how businesses should prepare in the event of a no-deal it is becoming more and more clear that a “no deal” scenario will have many unwanted and adverse effects on companies in the UK.

In case of a hard Brexit, what will change?

In accordance with the internal market clause (also referred to as country-of-origin principle) of Article 3 of the Directive on electronic commerce, a provider of information society services is subject to the law of the EU Member State in which it is established, and not to the various laws of the EU Member States where its services are provided.

As of the withdrawal date, information society service providers established in the United Kingdom and providing information society services into the EU will no longer be able to rely on the country-of-origin principle. The basic information requirements set out in the Directive on electronic commerce no longer apply to them.

As a consequence, companies established in the United Kingdom providing information society services into the EU will fall under the jurisdiction of each individual EU-27 Member State. Each EU-27 Member State will be entitled to subject the provision of such services to its national rules, including, for instance, prior authorisation schemes or rules on information to be provided to users. Moreover, the limitations of liability set out in the Directive on electronic commerce no longer apply to intermediary service providers established in the United Kingdom.

How can we help you?

Our specialists are ready to guide your company through the swamp of regulatory issues in a post-Brexit landscape.

We provide advice on incorporating a company in Belgium in case you need to relocate or in case you need a EU – based company to continue your business.

Belgian government is working on creating an entrepreneur-friendly environment: corporate tax rate has been decreased to 29% and will further be lowered to 25% in 2020. SMEs will benefit a decrease in the rate to 20% (on the first tranche of 100.000 Euro), corporate law will be reformed by 2019 and provides more flexible corporate entities and less strenuous formalities.

Belgium is ideally positioned at the heart of Europe to continue your activities on the mainland.

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