Brexit: sanctions policy
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.Sanctions—also known as restrictive measures—are controls imposed by a country or bloc on another country, its citizens or entities with the aim of influencing their behaviour. The UK Government agrees sanctions at the UN, the EU and, to a lesser extent, on an autonomous basis. On leaving the EU, the UK will leave the common EU regime through which it shapes, adopts and implements the majority of restrictive measures currently in force in the UK.
2.This report considers the UK’s current sanctions regime—as a member of the EU—and its options for designing an autonomous regime and collaborating with international partners after Brexit. It focuses on sanctions policy—the process of designing measures to achieve the UK’s foreign policy and national security goals. It does not explore the proposed legal regime through which the Government intends to implement sanctions after Brexit, or specific issues relating to implementation and enforcement. We note that our previous report, The legality of EU sanctions, raised a number of concerns, including over the standard of proof the EU applies when it adopts sanctions listings, and over the practice of relisting on amended reasons entities whose original listings have been struck down for lack of evidence by the EU courts.1
3.Chapter 2 introduces the purpose of sanctions, the types of sanctions regimes implemented by the UK, the advantages of unilateral and multilateral approaches to sanctions, and the EU regimes currently in place. Chapter 3 considers how an EU sanctions regime is established, how Member States and EU institutions co-ordinate, and the UK’s current role and influence. Chapter 4 considers the UK’s future sanctions policy, including the ways that third countries work with the EU, possible co-operation with the EU-27 and other international partners, the impact on businesses, and the resourcing of UK and EU on sanctions policy.
4.This report is based on an inquiry from April to October 2017 by the EU External Affairs Sub-Committee, whose members are listed in Appendix 1. We are grateful to our witnesses, who are listed in Appendix 2. A list of the current UN, EU and Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) sanctions regimes is in Appendix 3.
5.We make this report for debate.
1 Our report, The legality of EU sanctions, explores the sanctions listing process and legal challenges. European Union Committee, The legality of EU sanctions (11th Report, Session 2016–17, HL Paper 102). Also see the report of the Constitution Committee on the proposed domestic sanctions regime. Constitution Committee, Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill [HL] (8th Report, Session 2017–19, HL Paper 39)