Timeline for Will Stack Exchange EU terms still apply to Britain now that BREXIT has finished?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 17, 2020 at 7:41 | comment | added | MSalters | @gnasher729: Nope, the relevant law finds its origin in the GDPR, and that is an obligation on companies, not users. Users cannot violate the law there. | |
| Feb 16, 2020 at 23:17 | comment | added | gnasher729 | @MSalters "New users located in the UK can enroll if they're born after 2007-01-31." New users etc. don't violate StackExchange's terms of service by enrolling. They may be in breach of some law (bad for them) or they may put StackExchange into breach of some law (bad for StackExchange, better change your terms quickly). | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 16:00 | comment | added | MSalters | @phoog: Why would they? The TOS has a very well-defined term (located in the EU), which does not apply to people in the UK anymore than it does to people in the US. The reverse case could have been hard (country joins the EU, are existing users between 13-16 affected?). But in this case the text is utterly clear. New users located in the UK can enroll if they're born after 2007-01-31. | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 15:43 | comment | added | phoog | @MSalters but the question is not about whether the UK is bound by EU law. The question is about whether the age restriction in the TOS applies to people in the UK. | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 14:13 | comment | added | MSalters | @phoog: I agree that the age restriction did not follow from EU law, which is exactly why I argued that it's irrelevant to which degree the UK is still bound by EU law. The TOS is worded in terms of EU membership, which has ended. That literal interpretation is reasonable as it's not in conflict with UK law post-Brexit. | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 14:00 | comment | added | phoog | @MSalters "a more reasonable assumption would be that the UK's national law now applies": both apply. But the user doesn't need to know that; the user just needs to know what the TOS say. | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 13:55 | comment | added | phoog | @MSalters the withdrawal agreement specifies that union law continues to apply in the UK during the transition period unless the agreement explicitly provides otherwise. So interpretation of the terms of service does have to take EU law into account. The problem is that the TOS do not define "European Union," so it means actual EU members. The age restriction does not arise directly out if EU law; it is a condition imposed by the company. If the company's failure to impose the restriction on the UK violates UK law, which for the time being includes EU law, then that is the company's problem. | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 9:00 | comment | added | gnasher729 | What happened is that a term in a contract has changed its meaning. “Located within the EU” doesn’t mean what it meant a week ago. This is Stack Exchange’s terms, independent of a transitional period. Of course they could change the terms to “located within the EU or U.K.”. | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 0:25 | comment | added | MSalters | @DaleM: The "unnamed EU law" would be the GDPR, which only defaults to 16, but is implemented in the UK as a minimum of 13, so a more reasonable assumption would be that the UK's national law now applies. | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 0:23 | comment | added | Dale M♦ | @MSalters clarified | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 0:22 | comment | added | Dale M♦ | @phoog clarified | |
| Feb 7, 2020 at 0:22 | history | edited | Dale M♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 7, 2020 at 0:07 | comment | added | MSalters | I also believe this is incorrect. The UK is part of the Customs Union and Single Market under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement. However, I don't see how that matters to a US company. The UK is legally not part of the European Union, and therefore the TOS for British customers have to be interpreted on the basis of US and UK law. | |
| Feb 6, 2020 at 22:01 | comment | added | phoog | I believe this is incorrect. EU law also applies in three EEA countries, but the terms of service are poorly drafted and fail to include those countries. The same is true of the UK. The UK is not "considered to be part of the EU" for any purpose; it has become a non-EU country in which EU law continues to apply for some time. | |
| Feb 6, 2020 at 21:58 | vote | accept | Daemon Beast | ||
| Feb 6, 2020 at 22:03 | |||||
| Feb 6, 2020 at 21:47 | history | answered | Dale M♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |