Nothing I've said above applies to private contracts between private parties.  However even if an airline has a "contract" to fly from London to Berlin, it cannot do so in the absence of the "Blue Skies" agreement or some successor.

Equally customs controls are entirely oblivious to private contractual obligations, although they may use contract prices to compute tariffs due, or to ensure that the relevant parties have any required import/export licence or meet required quality certification standards.

The EU or UK can promulgate whatever regulations post Brexit they want, but neither can enforce their rulings on he other in the absence of some over-arching agreement between them as to who has jurisdiction in a particular case. Without such agreement, legitimate trade may become impossible.

The UK certainly has a strong position currently regarding the juridical resolution of disputes regarding contracts entered into by parties in various jurisdictions, but why on earth would the EU agree to post Brexit contracts disputes involving EU entities being subject to UK court determination?

The US judicial system may be able to bring the Argentinian government to book because of it's global power and reach.  The UK government less so, and the EU will never be taken seriously as a global economic power sans UK if it cannot handle it's own legal "needs".

Continuity be damned. Brexit is all about rupture.

Index of Frank's Diaries