Originally from Reflections on International Arbitration - Essays in Honour of Professor George Bermann

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I. INTRODUCTION

Following a lengthy and convoluted process, the United Kingdom (“UK”) left the European Union (“EU”) on 1 January 2021. The UK’s withdrawal from the EU brings an end to the Brexit transition period initiated by 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, which had come into force on 31 January 2020 (“Withdrawal Agreement”).  

Since January 2021, the post-Brexit relationships between the UK and the EU are regulated by 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 concluded on 24 December 2020 (“TCA”).  

Despite the common expectation that a post-Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU would provide a comprehensive investment protection regime, the TCA offers limited substantive standards of protection  and does not provide for any investor-State dispute settlement (“ISDS”) mechanism.