On January 30, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a press release (the Press Release) advising UK and EU firms on the implementation period, which starts when the UK leaves the EU at 11:00 p.m. GMT (6:00 p.m. EST) tonight (i.e., January 31), and is expected to end in 11 months’ time on December 31 (for more information please see the January 24 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest).

In the Press Release, the FCA observed that EU law will continue to apply, and therefore that there is no change for UK firms. In particular, the FCA emphasized that the passporting regimes and reporting obligations for firms, as well as consumer rights and protections derived from EU law, will all continue to apply until end of day on December 31.

In connection with the temporary permissions regime (TPR) — a transitional set of rules that would enable firms established in the European Economic Area (EEA) to continue passporting their regulated activities into the UK for a limited period after the UK leaves the EU (for more information please see the January 11 2019 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest) — the FCA also explained that the notification window for EEA-based firms to file with the FCA to gain access to the TPR closed on January 30. However, the window will open again later in 2020, to allow for additional notifications by those EEA-based firms that have not yet filed with the FCA to do so before the end of the implementation period. The FCA has advised that firms and fund managers who have already submitted TPR notifications to the FCA need take no further action at this stage.

The Press Release is available here.