Following Theresa Mays’s speech at the 2017 CBI conference, the European Relationship and Industrial Strategy (EURIS) Taskforce welcomed her commitment to a Brexit implementation period and her acknowledgement of this being “crucial to our future success”.

However, the Taskforce has also emphasised the necessity of a five-year implementation period for technical regulations.

EURIS believes that a five-year transition period for the full implementation of Brexit is required to minimise economic disruption to UK manufacturing companies as they adjust to life outside the EU.

This extended period beyond March 2019 would allow industry to keep its existing EU customers and give manufacturers time to develop new relationships and solutions with respect to the comprehensive and complex nature of European legislation and related standards.

EURIS vice chairman, Steve Brambley, said: “A five-year implementation period for Brexit is vital for the industrial product supply industry, as the sector, which represents around 25 percent of the UK manufacturing industry, operates in long-term, multi-stage cycles for both regulation and product design.

“A five-year implementation period is essential to enable our industry to place products on the market and remain competitive”.