Brexit discussions at the FCO
26 March 2018
Edmund Proffitt recently had the opportunity to have brief discussions on Brexit at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, the Minister for International Trade, Dr. Liam Fox and the Minister for International Development, Penny Mordaunt. The main issue was the need for post-Brexit continuity in dental device regulation and he was also able to have a constructive discussion with Liam Fox of the development of TAP grants for SME dental exporters.
Following the Prime minister’s recent more detailed outlining of Brexit objectives, the Government’s Office of Life Sciences will be publishing a key report on its policy suggestions for the future of medical device regulation in the next few weeks. With the EU’s recent publication of its draft Brexit agreement the pace of discussion is picking up again. 19 March saw the announcement that UK and EU negotiators had agreed a deal on the ‘implementation period’ of the Brexit process, making provision for a transitional period running from when the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019 to 31 December 2020. During this time the UK will still be party to existing EU trade deals but will also be able to agree new deals independently.
