The TCA established the post-Brexit legal framework governing trade and cooperation between the EU and the UK after the UK's departure from the Single Market and Customs Union.
Key Facts
- Signed
- 30 December 2020
- Provisional application from
- 1 January 2021
- Formally in force from
- 1 May 2021
- Negotiation duration
- 8 months
- Parties
- EU, Euratom, and the United Kingdom
- Parallel treaties signed
- 2 additional agreements (classified info; nuclear energy)
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit) necessitated a new legal basis for trade and cooperation. Following the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020, both parties required an agreement to replace the rights and obligations that had governed their relationship as EU member and union.
After eight months of negotiations, the EU, Euratom, and the UK concluded the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, signed on 30 December 2020. It provides for tariff-free trade in goods, limited market access in services, fisheries transitional provisions, and cooperation across multiple policy areas, while two companion treaties addressed classified information exchange and nuclear energy cooperation.
From 1 January 2021, free movement of persons ended, the UK exited the Single Market and Customs Union, and most EU programme participation ceased. UK access to real-time EU crime data and defence cooperation were curtailed, and the European Court of Justice lost general authority over UK-EU disputes, reshaping the bilateral relationship on a treaty rather than membership basis.
Political Outcome
Free trade agreement concluded; UK exited EU Single Market and Customs Union, with new frameworks for goods trade, services, fisheries, and limited programme participation.
UK as EU member state within Single Market, Customs Union, and subject to ECJ jurisdiction
UK as independent third country with free trade in goods and limited services access under TCA