UK: BREXIT and the UK corporate law framework (incl. accounting, audit and takeovers)

The purpose of this post is to provide an update concerning the statutory instruments that are being published in order to prepare the UK's corporate law framework for the UK's departure from the European Union. Information concerning the legislative changes being made to the financial regulatory framework under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 can be found here (and, in respect of the role of regulators and their handbooks, see here and here; the latter link includes news of the temporary permissions regime).

I started, earlier this week, by noting the publication in draft form of the Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships and Partnerships (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018. These Regulations (and their accompanying explanatory memorandum) have been withdrawn because, to quote the relevant Government website, there was "not enough information in the EM [explanatory memorandum]". The Regulations have since been laid again and were published yesterday: see here.

Draft legislation concerning statutory audit and accounts and reports has now been published. A draft of the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 is available here, with a draft explanatory memorandum available here (pdf). These Regulations will make amendments to the legislation that implemented the EU Audit Directive (e.g., Part 42 ("Statutory auditors") of the Companies Act 2006); amendments will also be made to the retained UK version of the EU Audit Regulation.

A draft of the Accounts and Reports (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 is available here, with a draft explanatory memorandum available here (pdf). These Regulations will make amendments to Part 15 ("Accounts and Reports") of the Companies Act 2006.

The Takeovers (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 have also been published (replacing an earlier draft): see here, with the draft explanatory memorandum available here (pdf). The purpose of these Regulations is to amend Part 28 ("Takeovers etc") of the Companies Act 2006 in order to create what the explanatory memorandum calls a "freestanding domestic takeovers regime". The proposed, connected changes that will be made by the UK's Takeover Panel to the Takeover Code were explained in a consultation paper published earlier this week: see here (pdf).