legal-terms brexit
Will Stack Exchange EU terms still apply to Britain now that BREXIT has finished?
<h1>Background Information</h1>

<p>Britain has recently finished BREXIT (after years of painstaking decision making about pretty much nothing) and I was wondering whether Stack Exchange's EU specific terms still apply to Britain.</p>

<h2>Example of EU specific terms</h2>

<blockquote>
  <p>If you are located within the European Union, you must be at least 16
  years old to access or use the Network or Services, including without
  limitation to complete a Stack Overflow Account Registration. By
  accessing or using the Services or the Network in any manner, you
  represent and warrant that you are at least 16 years of age. If you
  are under 16 years old, you may not, under any circumstances or for
  any reason, access or use the Services or Network in any manner, and
  may not provide any personal information to or on the Services or
  Network (including, for example, a name, address, telephone number or
  email address).</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Questions</h1>

<p><em>Do Stack Exchange's EU specific terms still apply to Britain?</em></p>

<p><em>If so, will they ever stop applying to Britain?</em></p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>The UK is no longer in the EU, and the terms of service, which are probably drafted poorly, fail to include non-EU countries that are subject to EU law, such as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.</p>

<p>This oversight means that the UK is also not included as of the beginning of February 2020 when it ceased to be a member of the European Union.</p>

<p>There seems to be no case for confusion here. The UK already had a legal minimum age of 13, as allowed (but not mandated) by the GDPR. Companies did have the freedom to set a higher minimum age, as SE did. If they set a a higher minimum age, companies also had the freedom to later lower that.</p>

<p>By setting a minimum age of 16 only for EU countries, SE effectively lowered the minimum age for UK subscribers from 16 to 13 after Brexit. SE could (at its discretion) have done this even before Brexit.</p>

<p>Arguing otherwise would require an interpretation contrary to the text of the TOS. There can be legal reasons to do so, for instance if the text was not originally on violation of the law, but after a law change it is. In this particular case however the literal meaning (EU member) does not require such a contradiction.</p>

<p>Note that this TOS applies to a contract. The only third party which could bring a case would be the legal guardian(s) of the minor in the UK. That case would be that SE illegally entered into the contract in violation of UK law (which happens to be derived from the GDPR). There's no such violation if the minor is over 13. The guardian can't argue that the company broke its own TOS.</p>

<h2>Right now: yes</h2>

<p>There is a <a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/brexit-deal-withdrawal-agreement" rel="nofollow noreferrer">transitional period</a> until 31 December 2020 where EU law applicable to the UK continues to apply as if the UK were still a member even though they aren’t. After that, no but presumably SO will have modified their TOS. That’s what the transition is for.</p>

<p>Further, any contract must be interpreted in light of what a reasonable person in the parties positions would understand. It’s reasonable to assume that this clause is there to comply with some unnamed EU law. EU law still applies in the UK so it’s reasonable to assume that it’s meant to apply to users in the UK.</p>
