Following the signature of the withdrawal agreement by the EU and the United Kingdom on 24 January, its approval by the European Parliament on 29 January and the adoption on 30 January by the European Council of the decision on the conclusion of the withdrawal agreement on behalf of the EU, the withdrawal agreement will enter into force upon the UK’s exit from the EU, on 31 January 2020 at midnight.

Concretely, from 1rst February 2020:

• The UK will no longer be an EU member state and will be considered as a third country.
• However the withdrawal agreement includes a transition period until 31 December 2020.

During the transition period, the UK will continue to apply Union law but it will no longer be represented in the EU institutions. The transition period can be extended once for a period of up to one or two years, if both sides agree to this before 1 July 2020.

The negotiations on the future partnership between the EU and the UK will start once the UK has left the EU. The framework for this future relationship was set out in the political declaration agreed by both sides in October 2019.