BRUSSELS, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Delegates of 27 members (without Britain) of the Council of the European Union (EU) on Monday approved directives to begin negotiations on a transition period related to Brexit.

The directives set out additional details on possible transitional arrangements, noting that there will be no "cherry picking".

Britain will be a non-EU country as of March 30, 2019. It will no longer be represented in EU institutions.

The transitional period needs to be clearly defined and precisely limited. It should not last beyond Dec. 31, 2020, according to the directives.

They also recalled the need to translate into legal terms the results of the first phase of the negotiations, underlining that work needs to be completed on all issues relating to Brexit, including those not yet addressed in the first phase.

The Commission will publish in due course a draft legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement, of which transitional arrangements form a part. The Article 50 agreement will need to be concluded by the Council, the European Parliament and Britain, according to its own constitutional requirements, said the directives.

In the winter EU Summit in December last year, leaders of the EU27 approved the second phase of Brexit talks.