Provisional application of EU – UK agreement extended until the end of April 2021
02.03.2021
On 24th December 2020, the European Union and the United Kingdom reached agreement with respect to a package of agreements governing the future relationship, which includes the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This agreement has served as the basis of the EU-UK relationship since 1 January 2021. The document covers, among others, issues regarding the coordination of social security systems (Regulation on the coordination of social security systems).
This agreement applies provisionally from 1 January 2021 until the completion of the ratification procedure in 2021. On 26 February this year, the decision of the Partnership Council, the UK's joint governing body for 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 (Decision 1/2021), decided to extend the provisional application of the Agreement until 30 April.
The provisions of the Protocol apply to people who are, or have been, subject to the social security legislation of at least one EU country, including stateless persons and refugees and their survivors who came or will come to the UK after 1 January 2021.
The extension of the provisional application will allow to complete the internal procedures required for the definitive conclusion of the agreement. The EU still must obtain the consent of the European Parliament to provide a certified translation of the agreement in all the official languages used within the European Union.
Provisional application avoids a legal gap between the end of the transition period with the UK and the final conclusion of the new agreement.