The EU Council has announced its intention to modernise the current EU regime “for the control of exports, transfer, brokering, technical assistance and transit of dual-use items”. Objective of the mandate The purpose of the mandate is to reinforce the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, security, stability and regional peace in addition to the respect for international humanitarian law and human rights. Proposed changes A number of amendments will…
The UK Parliament has approved the draft Protection against the Effects of the Extraterritorial Application of Third Country Legislation (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 which will transpose the EU blocking statute into UK domestic law in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The EU Blocking Regulation aims to offset the unlawful effects of third country extra-territorial sanctions on EU operators. The new UK Regulations are particularly relevant following the EU’s response to the re-imposed US…
The UK has published guidance in relation to the four UK sanctions regimes listed below. This guidance outlines the prohibitions and restrictions, the information and recording requirements, the circumstances in which a licence/authorisation may be obtained and how these sanctions will be enforced (along with the associated penalties). ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida (United Nations Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019: link to guidance The Democratic Republic of Congo (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019: link to guidance…
On 28 February 2019, the USTR published a paper summarising its “specific negotiating objectives” for negotiating a trade agreement with the UK post-Brexit (available here). The paper starts by stating that that the US’s “aim in negotiations with the UK is to address both tariff and non-tariff barriers and to achieve fairer and deeper trade”. The US objectives notably include: greater access to the UK market for US agricultural products; comprehensive duty-free access for US…