On Friday 1 February, a draft law was released which aims at ensuring that even in case of a hard Brexit, UK entities of the financial and insurance sectors with Luxembourg activities will still be able to perform some activities in Luxembourg either by the establishment of a branch or under the freedom of providing services
during a limited period of time of up to 21 months (the Grandfathering Period). Interestingly, this Grandfathering Period corresponds to the proposed transitory period set out in the Brexit withdrawal agreement that has been rejected recently by the UK parliament.

The overall objective of these grandfathering rules to be introduced in:

• the law of 5 April 1993 on the financial sector;
• the law of 10 November 2009 on payment services;
• the law of 17 December 2010 on UCIs;
• the law of 12 July 2013 on AIFMs;
• the law of 7 December 2015 on the insurance sector; and
• the law of 18 December 2015 on the failure of credit institutions and certain investment firms;

is to make sure that UK undertakings can carry on their Luxembourg activities during a transition period following Brexit, so as to maintain the stability of the Luxembourg financial market and protect Luxembourg customers.

The draft law grants the regulatory authorities of the financial and insurance sectors (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, the CSSF, and Commissariat aux Assurances, the CAA) the necessary powers to enable UK entities of the financial and insurance sector that have entered into contracts with Luxembourg counterparts before Brexit to perform these activities during the Grandfathering Period. The procedure to be followed (e.g. either through notification similar to the temporary permission regime put in place recently by the UK Financial Conduct Authority or through a light authorisation process) is to be implemented by the CSSF and the CAA.