BREXIT – is shorthand that stands for BRitain EXIT, it simply means Britain leaving the European Union (EU). The same way GREXIT broke out in the past when Greek was exiting Euro.
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What is the European Union?
The European Union, abbreviated and popularly known as the EU is a political and economic cooperation between 28 European countries. The EU, created immediately after the World War II, aims of unite participating countries under the umbrella of trades. The idea was that, if the countries could trade among each other peacefully, then, they will not go to war with each other. Ever since the inception of EU, countries involved have been operating as a single country; having its own currency, parliament, and rules.
Why is Britain leaving the EU and what does the British population think?
The EU, constitutes of 28 countries and creates tons of rules which are not generally accepted but must not be broken. Britain claimed that politically and economically, being a member of the EU is slowing down its progress, the country has to exit. Britain held a referendum in June 2016 to decide whether it should leave or stay in the EU. The turnout of the referendum speaks for itself with over 30 million people participating in the vote; the vote resulted in 51.9% to leave and 48.1% not to leave. “Leaving” won.
Will BREXIT happen and when is it likely to happen?
Will the look of things, BREXIT is definitely happening. The ruling government and the opposition party both agree that BREXIT should happen, and obviously, most activities and meetings held by British politicians concerning BREXIT focuses on its relationship with the EU after BREXIT rather than if BREXIT is happening or not.
BREXIT happening is not 100% certain, but a series of current activities are assuring it does.
Currently, three issues are being discussed in preparation for BREXIT; the debt of United Kingdom (UK) with EU, what will happen to the Northern Ireland Border, and lastly, what will happen to UK citizens residing in other EU countries and vice-versa. This shows that BREXIT is most likely to happen and people are already preparing for it.
More talks have been focused on UK citizens having physical/land properties in Northern Ireland. A 21-month “transition” period has been scheduled to start from March 2019 to December 2020. During this time, all properties would have been transitioned and this will get the UK ready for its own rules and relationships. Free movements will still be in effect before and within the transitioning period.
Then, the post-BREXIT rules will take effect on January 1, 2021.
BREXIT may still not happen if both sides later disagree on it. Still, once the transition period is in motion, there is no going back.
Effects of BREXIT on the United Kingdom
BREXIT both have its advantageous and disadvantageous sides, let’s quickly observe the most likely affected areas.
Trade and Business
EU as said earlier is a combination of cooperating countries, thus trade between these countries is governed by the EU as a country would manage its internal trade. There are no tariffs and extra charges on imports and exports between participating countries. Citizens of member countries can work freely in any other member countries, traveling between member countries do not require traveling passport.
Roughly 44% of UK exports go to other EU countries, and this has made UK have a say in the EU trading terms and conditions.
The UK also benefits from EU trade deals with other countries, But, all these will cease after BREXIT.
BREXIT is definitely going to affect big UK businesses with various branches across the EU nations, it will be harder to move resources abroad (is the EU will be referred after BREXIT).
On the other hand, UK will now be able to represent itself in the business world, making economic deals that are 100% beneficial to them alone, this results in bearing full loses or gaining hundred percent profits. UK being the second biggest economy in the EU projects the fact that it is going to thrive after BREXIT.
Politics
Britain’s exit will mean true political independence for the UK; its politics will no longer be influenced by the EU. The UK will create and implement It’s very own rules and laws.
Relation
Working permit, free traveling, and diplomatic relationships will also be affected. The UK government has agreed to keep traveling to the UK a visa-free visit for EU visitors, hope is high that the EU does the same for UK visitors. Plus, any UK citizen who plans to work in the EU will have to apply for permission and the same for EU citizens who plan to work in the UK.
Are UK e-commerce ready for BREXIT?
Three levels of BREXIT are being examined concerning what could happen to UK e-commerce and economy at large if BREXIT actually came to pass; soft, medium range and hard.
- The soft BREXIT case: Soft BREXIT will mean UK joining the EEA (European Economic Area), but this is the less likely option as the idea behind BREXIT is a clean break from the EU.
- The Mid-range BREXIT case: UK will employ the EFTA solution; European Free Trade Association is an intergovernmental organisation, established in 1960s to promote free trade between its member countries in the EU, the Europe continent and the whole World at large. In this case, all international trade will be through EFTA until a better solution is found. Trading through EFTA incurs more charges and probability of employing this solution is 50:50.
- The hard BREXIT case: The hard BREXIT case implies that UK will go for the WTO (World Trade Organisation) solution; simply means up to 30% tariff on products and services sold or bought internationally. This would be the worst case for UK economy. A better scenario of this for UK-based producers, would be to produce two versions of a product. That is, one sold internationally and the other locally, but this will also increase production costs.
How would BREXIT affect the IT industry?
The IT industries based in the United Kingdom will have its fair share of post-BREXIT effects. There are few unavoidable outcomes, let’s examine a few:
The issue of domain names
A business domain name is just a pointer to a business website. What’s more, the domain extension gives creditability to a business. To go even further, a website’s domain itself is a branding strategy. Currently, nobody is complaining about more than 300,000 .eu domains registered to UK businesses. Nonetheless, this point of view won’t remain the same once BREXIT kicks in.
Citizens’ data protection
Data protection is another issue to consider. Before BREXIT, UK shares the same data protection law with the rest of EU countries. After BREXIT, UK may be an outcast and access to EU citizens’ personal data will be restricted. This may result in making things harder for UK companies serving EU citizens, but there may still be away to solve this as the companies are planning on adopting GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), and more so, UK may keep some EU laws which include EU data protection laws.
The UK leaving the Digital Single Market
Because of living the EU, UK will no longer benefit from the European Cloud Initiative and the Digital Single Market. The Digital Single Market has many goals which include EU-wide standards for devices. Not benefiting from all these will have a negative impact on the UK and make it hard to compete with other EU countries.
Comment liability
Once out of the EU, a UK website or blog that implement open comments will be fully responsible for the comments found on said site. But this still depends whether UK keeps implementing some EU laws or break away completely. Currently, the EU’s E-Commerce Directive provides protection for website owners against legal action. That includes, any defamatory comments or contents found on their web pages.
Jeopardising data centers
Financial institution across the EU use one out of three data centers in London. So, we can safely say it is the financial center of the EU. However, this may all change post-BREXIT. These financial institutions could move back to the EU due to BREXIT and they might move their financial data along with them.
A perfect solution for e-businesses in the UK
Having known about BREXIT, UK-based web hosting providers are playing a part to ensure smooth internet operations after this change. UK-based Hosting companies like this one, for example, have the resources and is ready and to ease the stress BREXIT might put on your internet-based business.
In fact, if you are looking for more resources, consider these on the easiest way to build a website, how to find and register a perfect domain name to favor post-BREXIT, how to increase website speed. Also, for tips on how to purchase a hosting plan for UK-based e-commerce websites.
Conclusion
It is pretty sure BREXIT will come to pass. So, it is better you prepare for the inevitable. When it comes to the internet and web, we can help you prepare. You can get more information on our blog, domains or hosting services.
