European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020

European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to implement, and make other provision in connection with, the agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union which sets out the arrangements for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU.
Citation	2020 c. 1
Introduced by	Steve Barclay, Brexit Secretary (Commons) Earl of Courtown, Government Deputy Chief Whip (Lords)
Territorial extent	United Kingdom Primarily section 1 only: Isle of Man Jersey Guernsey Gibraltar Other provisions There is a power to make Regulations with extraterritorial effect in pursuance of 1971 c.77 (s.36) and 2007 c.30 (s.60(4)) under s.42(4)- this excludes Gibraltar. s.42(2): "Any provision of this Act which amends or repeals an enactment has the same extent as the enactment amended or repealed." s.42(5): "Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 5, so far as they relate to the modification of any provision in subordinate legislation which extends outside [the UK] also extend there"
Dates
Royal assent	23 January 2020
Commencement	31 January 2020
Other legislation
Amends	European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 Immigration Act 1971
Repeals/revokes	European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019
Relates to	European Union Referendum Act 2015 European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018 United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020
Status: Amended
History of passage through Parliament
Records of Parliamentary debate relating to the statute from Hansard
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

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The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (c. 1) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that makes legal provision for ratifying the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and incorporating it into the domestic law of the United Kingdom. It is the most significant constitutional piece of legislation to be passed by Parliament of the Second Johnson ministry. The Withdrawal Agreement was the result of Brexit negotiations.^[1]

On 24 July 2018 the Government produced a white paper on the proposed bill and how the legislation would work.^[2] The bill was first introduced^[3] by the government in the second session of the 57th Parliament on 21 October 2019 with the long title "A Bill to Implement, and make other provision in connection with, the agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union which sets out the arrangements for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU".^[4] This bill was not further debated after the second reading in the Commons on 22 October 2019 and lapsed on 6 November when parliament was dissolved in preparation for the 2019 general election.

The bill was reintroduced immediately following the general election and was the first bill to be put before the House of Commons in the first session of the 58th Parliament,^[5] with changes from the previous bill, by the re-elected government and, in an unusual procedure, received its first reading before the debate on the Queen's Speech began. The second reading took place on 20 December, and the third on 9 January 2020.

This act was given Royal Assent on 23 January 2020, nine days before the UK left the European Union.