Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

European Council kickstarts “inevitable” process to move key EU agencies from London

26 Jun 2017, 2:25 pm

The European Council has formally set out the process for relocating the European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) from London after Brexit takes effect.

European Union (EU) member states now have until 31 July to submit offers to host the agencies, which employ 189 and 890 staff respectively. Member states must provide assurances that the relocated agencies will be up and running by the time the UK leaves the EU in 2019, that there will be adequate education facilities for the children of staff, and that children and spouses of current and future staff will have access to labour, social security and medical care.

Member states will vote on the agencies' new location in November, after the European Commission has assessed the offers made.

Banking law expert Tony Anderson of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: “Being an EU agency the relocation of the EBA from Canary Wharf has been inevitable since 23 June 2016 though it probably wasn’t on the top of most people’s minds when they went to the polling stations earlier that day. The relocation is regardless of what form of Brexit deal is finally negotiated.”

According to a document published by the European Council (23-page / 156KB PDF), the two agencies between them have around 45,000 visitors requiring around 40,000 hotel nights annually.

The EMA was set up in 1995 and evaluates and supervises human and veterinary medicinal products, on grounds of safety, efficacy and quality, in order to protect human and animal health in the EU. It has a budget of €322 million.

In May it emerged that the EMA would face a rent bill of €347 million when it leaves London, after it signed a new lease on its Canary Wharf offices in 2011 which runs until 2039 with no break clause.

The EBA was established in 2011 and is mandated to ensure effective and consistent prudential regulation and supervision across the EU banking sector. It has a budget of almost €39 million.

A number of EU member states have already voiced their intention to host one or other of the agencies, although they must now formally resubmit their offers. These include Ireland, which said in October it was “ideally suited” to host the EBA.