On 24 January 2020, in Brussels and then in London, the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community was signed. The parties are the Union and Euratom, of the one part, and the United Kingdom, of the other. Article 1 states that the Agreement sets out the arrangements for the withdrawal. The signatories were Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels; the same day, Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed at Downing Street.

The Article 50 TEU notification was lodged on 29 March 2017. The November 2018 text fell in the House of Commons. The revised text, agreed on 17 October 2019, replaced the Irish backstop with the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 received Royal Assent on 23 January.

Article 183: a single original in 24 languages — Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish — each equally authentic. The depositary is the Secretary-General of the Council. Article 182: the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, the Protocol relating to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus, the Protocol on Gibraltar, and Annexes I to IX form an integral part of the Agreement.

Part Two protects residence and work rights of Union citizens and United Kingdom nationals who exercised them before the end of the transition period. Part Four, Article 126: the transition or implementation period starts on the date of entry into force and ends on 31 December 2020. Article 132 allowed a single extension of one or two years by Joint Committee decision before 1 July 2020; that decision was not taken. Part Five governs the financial settlement. Part Six establishes the Joint Committee.

The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland sets arrangements to avoid a physical border on the island; Article 185 applies it, with listed exceptions, from the end of the transition. The Protocol relating to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus follows the same calendar, except for Article 11. The Protocol on Gibraltar, except for Article 1, ceases to apply at the end of the transition. This is not a customs handbook.

Article 185: the Agreement enters into force on the earliest of (a) the day following the end of the period provided for in Article 50(3) TEU, if the depositary has received both written notifications, and (b) the first day of the month following receipt of the last of those notifications. The United Kingdom notified on 29 January; the Union on 30 January. Consilium and Official Journal L 29, 31 January 2020, pp. 7–187, record entry into force on 1 February 2020. The Council concluded the Agreement by Decision (EU) 2020/135 of 30 January, after European Parliament consent on 29 January.

Article 184: the Union and the United Kingdom shall use their best endeavours, in good faith, to negotiate the agreements governing their future relationship referred to in the Political Declaration of 17 October 2019 — a separate instrument, not the withdrawal treaty. Cover: the page of the Agreement signed by the British prime minister, at Downing Street. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

For context: Brexit withdrawal agreement. The text: Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community.