Necessary for the fragmentation of Golgi stacks during mitosis and for their reassembly after mitosis. Involved in the formation of the transitional endoplasmic reticulum (tER). The transfer of membranes from the endoplasmic reticulum tothe Golgi apparatus occurs via 50-70 nm transition vesicles which derive from part-rough, part-smooth transitional elements of the endoplasmic reticulum (tER). Vesicle budding from the tER is an ATP-dependent process. The ternary complex containing UFD1L, VCP and NPLOC4 binds ubiquitinated proteins and is necessary for the export of misfolded proteins from the ER to the cytoplasm, where they are degraded by the proteasome. The NPLOC4-UFD1L-VCP complex regulates spindle disassembly at the end of mitosis and is necessary for the formation of a closed nuclear envelope. Regulates E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase activity of RNF19A. Component of the VCP/p97-AMFR/gp78 complex that participates in the final step of the sterol-mediated ubiquitination and endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD) of HMGCR. Also involved in DNA damage response: recruited to double-strand breaks (DSBs) sites in a RNF8- and RNF168-dependent manner and promotes the recruitment of TP53BP1 at DNA damage sites. Recruited to stalled replication forks by SPRTN: may act by mediating extraction of DNA polymerase eta (POLH) to prevent excessive translesion DNA synthesis and limit the incidence of mutations induced by DNA damage. Required for cytoplasmic retrotranslocation of stressed/damaged mitochondrial outer-membrane proteins and their subsequent proteasomal degradation.