The process of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union is so complex that it could take more than the prescribed two years. This is what the renowned German legal scholar and director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Prof. Dr Jürgen Basedow, affirms in his article “Brexit and Business Law”, which is now published in the China-EU Law Journal. Basedow’s analysis provides an important contribution to the legal challenges Brexit poses to Europe, Great Britain and China. It summarises his lecture of 6 December 2016 at the “China and the Brexit” Symposium organised by the China-EU School of Law in Beijing.

"The negotiations on the accession of new Member States to the European Union usually take about ten years,”explains Basedow.“ It is realistic to assume that the exit treaty will require a similar period of time unless the United Kingdom agrees to build upon some existing model providing ready-made solutions.” Basedow analyses in detail future relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, and the legal consequences of Brexit for secondary EU law. He also deals with the fate of international treaties that both London and Brussels will have to negotiate again with many countries, including the People’s Republic of China.

Prof. Dr Dr (Hon. Causa) Jürgen Basedow, LL.M. (Harvard) has been director of the Hamburg Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law since 1997. With his essential research in law, Basedow has been a formative influence on legal discourse in the core fields of business law.

The China-EU School of Law has published the“China-EU Law Journal”since 2013 in cooperation with the Springer publishing house. This peer-reviewed publication brings together Chinese, European and international perspectives on law.

China-EU Law Journal article