Institutional framework
An institutional framework embodies the governance of the TCA with binding dispute settlement and enforcement mechanisms. The framework covers the whole TCA as one agreement.
The EU and UK parliaments have established a Parliamentary Partnership Assembly as a forum for MEPs and MPs to exchange views on the arrangements and other issues, but with limited powers. It met for the sixth time 17-18 November 2025.
A Partnership Council (PC) governs the TCA, supervised by a UK minister and a European commissioner. This PC can adopt decisions, including those by the Committees, that will bind both the UK and EU. It also has the power to amend the TCA. In addition, the PC can make recommendations, but these have no binding effect.
The UK’s Minister for European Union Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, is the UK co-chair of the PC. European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, is the EU co-chair. The PC met for the third time in May 2024.
The PC’s deliberations may be open to the public or confidential, if the parties choose. It spends half its time in London and half in Brussels. There is also a secretariat, which is based in both places.
A Trade Partnership Committee assists the PC and supervises the work of the Trade Specialised Committees (see Figure 16.3).
- PC has 19 Specialised Committees whose remits relate to specific chapters of the agreement.
- Four Working Groups assisting and supervised by Specialised Committees.
- UK and EU representatives jointly chair each committee and working group.
- New committees and working groups may be established.
The Trade Partnership Committee met for the fifth time in December 2025 and there have been numerous meetings of the various Trade Specialised Committees.
Source: European Commission, Meetings of the EU-UK Partnership Council and Specialised Committees under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement
Figure 16.3: Institutional arrangements for the EU-UK TCA
Parliamentary scrutiny
Parliamentary scrutiny of legally binding decisions under the TCA is less than it was when the UK was an EU member. UK laws to implement EU directives had to go through the UK parliament, either as statutes or statutory instruments. Under the TCA, the UK parliament only has the right to be “informed” of the decisions.
Beyond parliament, the TCA obliges the EU and UK to consult “domestic advisory groups” and “civil society organisations” on the implementation of the TCA and any supplemental agreements. This includes non-governmental organisations, business and employer organisations, and trade unions. The EU and UK must “promote interaction between their respective domestic advisory groups, including by exchanging, where possible, the contact details of members of their domestic advisory groups.”
The House of Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union, chaired by Hilary Benn MP, ceased to exist on 16 January 2021. Its final report, published on 21 January, made recommendations for future parliamentary scrutiny of the TCA. Commenting on the report, Hilary Benn said:
“Now that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement has entered into force, it is in everyone’s interests to build a strong relationship with our friends and neighbours in the EU. Strong and effective Parliamentary scrutiny of this new relationship will be really important, so our final report contains practical ideas for how this could be organised. I look forward to seeing these new arrangements in place as soon as possible.”
The reports’s main practical ideas were:
- Parliament must be kept informed about the work being done in new bodies established under the TCA and the Withdrawal Agreement;
- Government should come forward with proposals for future scrutiny as soon as possible;
- Liaison Committee should be able to access papers relating to crucial UK-EU meetings;
- The new framework for inter-parliamentary relations should be established without delay;
- UK administrations should co-operate in implementing the new UK/EU relationship.
Overall governance of EU-UK relationship
It is important to note that overall governance of the EU-UK relationship falls under the Withdrawal Agreement as well as the TCA.
The diagram below (Figure 16.4) combines governance of the TCA and the Withdrawal Agreement, together with the mechanisms for settling disputes (from Professor Simon Usherwood).
Figure 16.4: Governance architecture of the EU-UK relationship
Dispute resolution
The Specialised Committees (or the PC) are the first ports of call for dispute resolution. If the Specialised Committee or the PC cannot resolve a dispute, they can refer it to an independent tribunal (convened for each dispute), which has to issue a ruling between 130 and 160 days after the date of establishing the panel.
Some disputes cannot be referred to the independent tribunal:
- fisheries
- return of cultural property
- small and medium-sized enterprises
- competition
- subsidy controls
- regulatory co-operation
- law enforcement cooperation
- security co-ordination.
Instead, the UK and the EU can use traditional trade remedies in the form of tariffs or suspend parts of the TCA. This may include cross-retaliation – suspension of unrelated areas of the agreement. There can also be retaliation under the TCA for breaches of the Withdrawal Agreement.
There is likely to be more secrecy over disputes than before. Dispute resolution and the arbitration process are subject to absolute and discretionary rules of confidentiality. With the ECJ, cases usually took place in open court. Now, dispute resolution can take place behind closed doors.
There are important changes in law and its applicability. Decisions of the PC will only bind the UK and EU as a matter of international law. They do not apply to other legal persons (individuals or businesses) apart from rights to social security and, on the EU side, for criminal law.
This also means that individuals and business have no legal redress under the treaty. The special EU legal regime, with its creation of rights enforceable by citizens and businesses has ended for the UK. EU law still influences what the Partnership Council can agree to, but in the background. The ECJ only has a role in relation to litigation over EU programmes. On these points, the TCA differs markedly from the Withdrawal Agreement.
Review of implementation
The TCA provides for an EU-UK review of the implementation and operation of the whole agreement every five years (with the first in 2026). In addition, the Specialised Committees (such as for SPS) review aspects within their remits on an ongoing basis and may propose TCA changes to the Partnership Council. There was also a vote in Northern Ireland on the Protocol in 2025.
Rebalancing measures
Rebalancing relates to the level playing field (LPF) provisions. If the EU feels that the UK (or vice versa) diverges enough from its new rules to cause a material impact on trade or investment, it is entitled to impose rebalancing measures. These could include tariffs and withdrawal of other benefits under the TCA.
There are non-regression clauses in the TCA but no obligation for the UK to increase standards in line with future changes in EU law for: labour, social standards, environment and sustainable development. However, the UK and EU make extensive commitments in the TCA to respect key regulatory principles across a wide range of areas, such as: state aid, labour and social standards, environment and sustainable development, taxation, consumer protection, intellectual property, public procurement, competition law and merger control. This is likely to constrain the ability to diverge.
There is a short time to implement rebalancing measures. For example, for significant changes in state aid, environment or employment law, which have material impacts on trade or investment, the complaining side has 19 days after notifying the other party to impose sanctions. Then it has 49 days if the other party refers the matter to the tribunal.
From 1 January 2025, either party may seek a review of certain aspects of the agreement if it believes that the other party has changed its own laws in a way that justifies a rebalancing of the TCA.
Termination
There are many ways in which the parties may terminate the TCA. Either party can give 12 months’ notice to terminate the agreement (and without cause). In addition, some sections of the TCA have time limits, such as the energy chapter (scheduled to terminate on 30 June 2026). Other chapters can be terminated at shorter notice than one year, such as those on aviation, road transport and fish (all nine months’ notice). Note that termination of the fish chapter automatically terminates the trade, aviation and road transport chapters.
Please note that it is not true that the whole TCA terminates automatically if the UK leaves the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). However, either side has the option to terminate the criminal law part if the UK or a Member State leaves the ECHR.