In a painstaking judgment handed down yesterday morning, Marcus
Smith J held that in the event that the United Kingdom does leave
the European Union, as it is set to do on 29 March, this action
does not operate to frustrate a lease entered into by the European
Medicines Agency (EMA).
The EMA is an agency of the European Union, and holds a 25-year
lease in Canary Wharf, which was granted in 2014. After the
referendum in June 2016, the EMA decided that, under European law,
it had to move its headquarters to a location still within the
European Union. It found alternative premises in Holland, and
sought a declaration from the court that it would be relieved of
its tenancy obligations under the doctrine of frustration.
