UK businesses with a branch operating in the EU will become a third country business in the event of a no deal which means that your business will need to comply with specific accounting and reporting requirements in each country.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accounting-if-theres-no-brexit-deal
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/auditing-if-theres-no-brexit-deal
After leaving the EU the role of policing and ensuring fair competition in UK markets (including state aid) will fully transfer to British regulators and agencies. This could result in differences to the current approach – for instance on approvals for mergers and acquisitions.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a notice on its role after Brexit.
CMA's role after Brexit
And another for the specific case of a ‘no-deal’ exit from the EU.
Effects of a 'no deal' EU Exit on the functions of the CMA
If there is no Brexit withdrawal agreement before March 2019, the government has developed a ‘no deal’ competition Statutory Instrument (SI):
Mergers: If the European Commission has issued a decision on or before the day the UK leaves the EU (unless the decision is annulled, in full or in part, following an appeal), the UK has no jurisdiction. UK-EU mergers will now occur via private contracts, not through the EU regime. Seek legal advice on individual ongoing merger cases.
State aid: The government is expected to pass secondary legislation which will transpose EU state aid rules into UK law and provide for the CMA to take on its new state aid role, following which they will publish further details on how this function will operate.
Antitrust: After the UK’s exit from the EU, the CMA will no longer have jurisdiction to apply anti-competitive agreements including cartels or on abuse of dominance.
The CMA published a consultation on their functions, relating to mergers, antitrust and consumer protection processes, in a no deal scenario: CMA Consultation: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/effects-of-a-no-deal-eu-exit-on-the-functions-of-the-cma
Your business may be affected by changes to regulations on personal data transfers and mobile roaming.
The Government have published guidance for using personal data after Brexit:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-personal-data-after-brexit
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a checklist of six steps that businesses can take now to start preparing for data protection compliance if the UK leaves the EU without a deal: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/2553958/leaving-the-eu-six-steps-to-take.pdf
More detailed information on this can be found here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-and-brexit/data-protection-if-there-s-no-brexit-deal/
The ICO have published a short animation outlining how organisations can use toolkits and checklists on the ICO website to maintain the flow of personal data in the event of no-deal https://vimeo.com/367803186
UK companies retailing to consumers or trading ‘information and data services’ (e.g. video sharing, social media platforms and internet service providers) across the EU would face changes to their regulatory environment in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit.
Do you know if the EU’s eCommerce Directive is relevant to your business?
Does your business operate any websites with a ‘.eu’ domain name registration?
The Department for Culture Media and Sport has produced official guidance for businesses engaged in contingency planning for Brexit.
This guidance provides businesses with information about the eCommerce Directive and sets out the government's approach to contingency planning for a ‘no-deal’ scenario. In this case, although there would be continuity in some areas there would be also be changes – such as the Directive's country of origin principle, which UK companies would cease to benefit from.
eCommerce EU Exit Guidance
DCMS has produced official guidance for companies with existing domain name registrations under ‘.eu’ or an interest in registering a domain name under ‘.eu’ in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit.
Guidance on '.eu' top domain names
When the UK leaves the EU there may be changes to the requirements for placing certain products on the UK and EU markets.
Placing manufactured goods on the EU market after Brexit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/placing-manufactured-goods-on-the-eu-internal-market-if-theres-no-deal
Placing manufactured goods on the UK market after Brexit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/placing-manufactured-goods-on-the-uk-market-if-theres-no-brexit-deal
How to comply with REACH chemical regulations https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-comply-with-reach-chemical-regulations
Supplying medicines and medical devices https://www.gov.uk/guidance/businesses-supplying-medicines-and-medical-devices-what-to-expect-on-day-one-of-a-no-deal-scenario
Vehicle type-approval if there’s no Brexit deal https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vehicle-type-approval-if-theres-no-brexit-deal
UK product safety and metrology changes in a no-deal Brexit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-product-safety-and-metrology-guidance-in-a-no-deal-scenario
The British Standards Institution (BSI) has published information about standards if there is a no deal https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/about-bsi/uk-national-standards-body/standards-policy-on-the-uk-leaving-the-eu
For the setting of standards, BSI state their membership of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is unaffected by Brexit, and following campaigning by the BCC and other business groups, they will seek to remain members of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) to ensure continuity.
There are UK Government Brexit technical notices on regulation for specific sectors. These can be found on our checklist here:https://www.britishchambers.org.uk/page/brexit/business-brexit-checklist/sectors
For cross-cutting regulatory issues, technical notices can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-to-prepare-if-the-uk-leaves-the-eu-with-no-deal
The UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking is a new UK product marking that will be used for certain goods being placed on the UK market if there’s a no-deal Brexit.
Find out if you will need to use the new UKCA marking and how to use it if there’s a no-deal Brexit. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prepare-to-use-the-ukca-mark-after-brexit