On 4 September 2019, the Commission published the 6^th Brexit Preparedness Communication. In particular, the Commission screened all the EU’s contingency measures to ensure that they are still fit for purpose, undertaking some technical adjustments.

In order to keep the emergency measures in force for limited periods of time, Regulation (EU) 2019/501 on common rules ensuring basic road freight and road passenger connectivity should have ceased to apply on 31 December 2019. Similarly, Regulation (EU) 2019/502 on common rules ensuring basic air connectivity should have been valid for a limited period, ceasing to apply on 30 March 2020.

However, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union without an agreement on 1 November 2019, the period of application of Regulation (EU) 2019/501 would be limited to two months, and that of Regulation (EU) 2019/502 to less than half of the initially envisaged period.

Therefore, in order to ensure that the contingency Regulations achieve their objectives, the Commission decided to extend their period of validity by the same amount of time, that is until 31 July 2020. This way, all stakeholders should have enough time to take all necessary measures to prepare for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Marco Stillo