LONDON, 1 Mar (APM) - The European Medicines Agency leaves Canary Wharf in London on Friday for its new offices in Amsterdam.
The enforced move - as a result of the UK’s Brexit vote - has been a bitter pill for the regulator, which now faces a bill of £500 million on its London lease (APMMA 61953), which it was unable to cancel.
It also anticipates a loss of around 25% of its staff because of the relocation (APMMA 61552).
In a statement on Friday, the drugs regulator said it will continue to work on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) from 4 - 8 March, when it will have a “period of reduced virtual presence”.
From 11 March onwards, it will switch to working on Central European Time (CET), when its official business hours will be 8.30am to 6pm CET Monday to Friday.
The EMA is also changing its servers from GMT to CET at midnight on 29 March, when the UK is due to leave the European Union. It said it would consider regulatory submissions to have met the pre-Brexit deadline of 29 March if filed by one second to midnight GMT on that date.
The regulator has previously stated that the UK will be treated as a third country unless a ratified withdrawal agreement is finalised before Brexit which states otherwise (APMMA 57661). It means the UK will no longer be able to engage in centralised regulatory procedures and central licence holders will no longer be allowed to be UK-based.
Brexit is now just four weeks away and UK Prime Minister Theresa May appears to be no closer to agreeing a withdrawal agreement with Parliament after having her EU-ratified deal rejected twice already.
Earlier this week, May indicated the date of Brexit could be pushed back until the end of June if no withdrawal agreement can be reached on time.
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