Preparing for No-deal Brexit: Delivering advertising services to the EU/EEA

Overview

Following recent developments in Parliament, the risk that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October 2019 without a deal has now diminished. However, given the Government’s determination to respect the result of 2016’s referendum, it is still important for businesses to prepare for the possibility of leaving the EU without a deal at a future point.

With this in mind, it is important to note that the UK will not be covered by the EU’s Services Directive if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Hence UK-based businesses or professionals delivering advertising services to any country within the EEA will be regarded as originating from a ‘third country’ and may face additional legal, regulatory and administrative barriers as a result.

What this means in reality is that it may no longer be straightforward to be solely based in the UK and deliver advertising services to an EEA member state without an established presence there. Moreover, there may be additional criteria or documentation required to become established in that country. So, it is really important for UK businesses and professionals to check the local regulations of the individual countries that they will be operating in. In some cases, there may be nationality or qualification requirements or an economic needs test.

The UK Government has published a further guidance and signposts to relevant information for each EEA Member State which can be found here.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/providing-services-to-eea-and-efta-countries-after-eu-exit

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport have also published this useful checklist. Although targeted at the wider Creative industries sector, there are sections relevant to the advertising sector. You may find this helpful when developing your own preparedness checklist.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/preparing-for-no-deal-brexit-if-you-work-in-the-creative-industries

Further Information

Regularly check the GOV.UK website for updates. If you need more information about your obligations and what you need to do to comply, we recommend seeking legal advice.

In the meantime, if you have any further questions, please email konrad.shek@adassoc.org.uk.