Thanks to Brexit – EMA Leaves London for Amsterdam

In anticipation of its move from London, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has been working closely with Dutch authorities to help smooth its relocation to the Netherlands. The move is expected to occur by March 30, 2019.

EMA, which facilitates the development and access to medicines in the EU, has been located in London since it was established in 1995. Despite voting to withdraw from the EU in 2016, the UK had expressed hope that EMA would remain in its longtime location on Canary Wharf. But on November 20, 2017, EU Member States voted that in the wake of Brexit, EMA would not remain in Britain but would be relocated to an EU member country. Amsterdam won the competition to house the EMA and the agency has since signed a Seat Agreement with the Dutch government which will permit the EMA to function independently in its new location.

In order to best prepare for the consequences of Brexit, the move to Amsterdam, and subsequent loss of staff, the agency has initiated a temporary suspension or scaling back of various activities so that its core activities of evaluation and supervising medicines can proceed with as little disruption as possible.

Among other activities, guideline development and revision has been scaled back in order to prioritize the guidelines which address urgent public/animal health needs or are necessary to prepare for Brexit. More detailed information can be found in EMA’s Brexit Preparedness Business Continuity Plan. More reductions are expected in advance of the actual re-location to Amsterdam.

EMA has also released information for pharmaceutical companies concerning cut-off dates for appointments of (co)-rapporteurs from the UK.

Additionally, EMA has created a Tracking Tool which displays various logistics and milestones related to its relocation from London.

We at Contracts Associates are also monitoring the impact that Brexit will have on the treatment of EU citizens’ transfers of personal data to sponsor data server’s located in the UK, which will be outside of the EEA, post-Brexit. We’ll cover this in future blogposts.