The government has published plans for a bill that would give it the legal power to impose sanctions after it leaves the European Union.

The UK currently negotiates and imposes non-UN sanctions against specific countries through EU laws. Without the new legislation, it would not have the legal authority to enforce those sanctions. The UK needs to be able to impose and implement sanctions in order to comply with our obligations under the United Nations (UN) Charter and to support our wider foreign policy and national security goals. The current powers flow from the European Communities Act 1972 so new legal powers are required to replace these.

The Queen’s Speech confirmed that an ‘International Sanctions Bill’ will be tabled during the current 2017-19 parliamentary session. The stated aim being to ensure that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK continues to play a central role in negotiating global sanctions to counter threats of terrorism, conflict and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as bringing about changes in behaviour. The new powers would see the introduction of an annual review of sanctions regimes to ensure they remained appropriate. It would also allow individuals and organizations to challenge sanctions imposed on them. The domestic legislative framework would also allow the government to:

• Impose sanctions to ensure compliance with obligations under international law after the UK’s exit from the EU. These include asset freezes, travel bans and trade and market restrictions.
• Exempt or license certain types of activity, such as payments for food and medicine, which would otherwise be restricted by sanctions.
• Amend regulations for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing and to pass new ones after the UK’s exit from the EU.

More than 30 sanctions regimes are currently in place, including against Russia, North Korea and Iran.