The communication, published on July 19, 2018, points out that citizens, businesses, state bodies and others will be affected by Brexit and that a joint effort from all parties is required in order to be fully prepared.

The communication warns to prepare for two main scenarios:

• If the Withdrawal Agreement is ratified before March 30, 2019, EU law will stop applying to the UK after the agreed transition period of 21 months, that is on January 1, 2021.
• If the Withdrawal Agreement is not ratified before March 30, 2019, there will be no transition period and EU law will stop applying to the UK on March 30, 2019.

There will be consequences for many industries and the Commission has published more detailed preparedness notices on a sector-by-sector basis. These notices can be found here.

In terms of next steps, the Commission will ask the European Parliament and the European Council to prioritize the adoption of its Brexit proposals, so that they will be in force by the withdrawal date.

There is another Brexit meeting on October 18, 2018, after which the European Council will review the situation again.