Press statement by President von der Leyen on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement between the EU and the UK

Good morning,

As you know, we had invited our British friends to remove the problematic parts of their draft Internal Market Bill by the end of September.

This draft Bill is - by its very nature - a breach of the obligation of good faith

laid down in the Withdrawal Agreement (Article 5).

Moreover, if adopted as is, it will be in full contradiction to the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland.

The deadline lapsed yesterday.

The problematic provisions have not been removed.

Therefore, this morning, the Commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the UK government.

This is the first step in an infringement procedure.

The letter invites the UK government to send its observations within a month.

The Commission will continue to work hard towards a full and timely implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.

We stand by our commitments.