CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

KRISTÝNA URBANOVÁ

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ

WTO IN CONTEXT OF BREXIT Kristýna Urbanová

Abstract : On 23 June 2016 the British people voted in the referendum which resulted in a demand for the United Kingdom (“the UK”) to withdraw from the European Union (“Brexit”). The result of the referendum has attracted a broad attention which could have hardly escaped any individual during the past year. And while the outcome of the vote to leave the union has been largely endorsed by some or described as the greatest disaster in the European Union’s (the “EU”) sixty year history by others, the decision has also triggered endless legal debates. The aim of this paper is to point out some of the major challenges which the UK government can expect to face in its future trade relations from the view of the international law of the World Trade Organization. The four central questions of the paper are as follows: (i) shall the UK remain a WTO member after Brexit or will it be required to renegotiate its accession to the organization? (ii) does the UK, now as a current EU member, have its own schedules? (iii) If it does, how we can identify these schedules; i.e. how can we separate them from the EU bundle, and (iv) what can be the best process of separation of the schedules from the EU overall schedule to the UK’s country specific schedules? Resumé : Dne 23. června 2016 se ve Velké Británii odehrálo tzv. referendum o Brexitu, jež vyústilo v požadavek, aby Velká Británie opustila Evropskou Unii. Cílem tohoto článku je poukázat na nejvýznamnější problémy, se kterými se britská vláda pravděpodobně bude potýkat při stanovení své mezinárodní obchodní politiky, a to z hlediska práva Světové ob- chodní organizace. Článek se zabývá následujícími otázkami: (i) je a zůstane Velká Británie členem Světové obchodní organizace? (ii) Má Velká Británie svá vlastní práva a povinnosti v této organizaci? (iii) Pokud ano, jak mohou být tato práva a povinnosti identifikována a oddělena od práv a povinností jiných členů Unie a (iv) Jaký proces je nejvhodnější k od- dělení těchto práv a povinností ze současného souhrnného systému, kdy tato práva jsou evidována v souhrnu pro všechny členy unie, jež jsou současně členy Světové obchodní organizace? Key words : WTO, Brexit, schedules. On the Author: Mgr. Kristýna Urbanová is a Ph.D. Candidate, Charles University, Prague, LL.M., University of Cambridge (2016). She is focusing on International Criminal Law and International Investment Law. Brexit and international law On 23 June 2016 the British people voted in the referendum which resulted in a demand for the United Kingdom (“the UK”) to withdraw from the European Union (“Brexit”). The result of the referendum has attracted a broad attention which could have hardly escaped an individual during the past year. And while the outcome of the vote to leave the union has been largely endorsed by some 1 or described as the greatest disaster in the European Union’s 1.

1 STONE, John, Nigel Farage delivers first post-Brexit speech to the European Parliament-in full, the Independent , 28 June 2016.

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