The agreement covers issues such as money, citizens` rights, border agreements and dispute resolution. It also includes a transition period and an overview of the future relationship between the UK and the EU. It was published on 14 November 2018 and was the result of the Brexit negotiations. The agreement was approved by the heads of state and government of the other 27 EU countries[9] and by the British government led by Prime Minister Theresa May, but it faced opposition from the British Parliament, which needed approval for ratification. The approval of the European Parliament would also have been necessary. On January 15, 2019, the House of Commons rejected the withdrawal agreement by 432 votes to 202. [10] The House of Commons again rejected the agreement by 391 votes to 242 on 12 March 2019 and rejected it a third time, on 29 March 2019, by 344 votes to 286. On 22 October 2019, the revised withdrawal agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson`s government approved the first phase in Parliament, but Johnson halted the legislative process when the accelerated approval programme failed to receive the necessary support and announced his intention to declare a general election. [12] On 23 January 2020, Parliament ratified the agreement by adopting the withdrawal agreement; On 29 January 2020, the European Parliament approved the withdrawal agreement.
It was then concluded by the Council of the European Union on 30 January 2020. Part 6 relates to the institutional provisions underlying the agreement and how to resolve VA disputes. The main changes to Part 6 of the March 2018 draft relate to disputes related to the agreement itself, which the Commission had originally proposed, should be resolved by the ECJ if they could not be resolved in the Joint Committee. Instead, the November draft proposes, in Article 170, that all disputes that are not settled in the Joint Committee be referred to an independent arbitration tribunal which will give a binding decision on the dispute. However, where litigation requires the interpretation of terms or provisions of EU law, Article 174 obliges the Tribunal to refer them to the ECJ in order to interpret in a binding manner those terms or provisions which the Tribunal must then apply.