The members of the British Chamber of Commerce are concerned about the hard Brexit and demand that the same conditions between Great Britain and the European Union, as they do now, apply during the transition period.
On February 28, the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic hosted the first meeting of the working group called Brexit Perspectives. Members of the British Chamber of Commerce at this meeting have communicated what steps the individual companies are taking in view of Britain’s appearance in the European Union. While small and medium-sized companies are waiting for the arrangement of politicians, large corporations can not afford to wait and prepare themselves for the worst possible scenario, the so-called hard Brexit. Some multinational corporations have even begun to relocate their headquarters to companies outside the UK, yet are still hoping to not encounter the worst possible scenario.
The working group meeting was attended by representatives of the banks, telecommunications, tax and legal advisory, education, or health and pharmaceutical industries whose business is affected by Brexit in various ways. While sectorial concerns differ, everyone agreed that the same conditions in the relationship between Great Britain and EU member states as now should apply during the transitional period, which will start to apply after March 29, 2019. At the same time, they also hope that the transition period will be able to be used to prepare for the organisation of new business conditions. They are worried that by March 2019 they will not be able to negotiate all the terms of departure and the greater part of the transitional period will serve to further negotiate and thus prolong the current uncertainty.
Business representatives also discussed how long the transition period should be. In this respect, their opinions differ. While some companies would need a two-year period, others require four years or more. Representatives of an important law firm have noted that too long of a transitional period would be detrimental because it would mean a distance from one another when adopting new legislation. At the same time, they also highlighted the need for arrangements for the recognition of judgments between Great Britain and the EU 27.
“We feel great interest among the members of the British Chamber of Commerce to discuss the issues associated with Brexit and we will continue to deal with them. On March 15 we are preparing a meeting for our members with representatives of the British Ministries, including the Ministry of Departure from the European Union,” says Marcela Černochová, Director of the British Chamber of Commerce.