Technical note on coordination of external security
Detail on the UK’s position on coordination on external security.
Technical_Note_Coordination_on_External_Security – 21 June 2018
Sanctions are a key foreign policy tool,and much of our future cooperation on sanctions will flow from UK-EU consultation on foreign policy. The UK and EU will operate their own autonomous legal regimes for the imposition of sanctions. The UK regime is now set out in the UK’s Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act, which became UK law on 23 May. This will include autonomy of decision making – the EU and the UK will choose independently when and how to use sanctions as a foreign policy tool. However, the nature of sanctions means that close UK-EU coordination would be of mutual benefit.
Building on the detail in the publications of 9 May and 24 May:
i. A significant proportion of existing EU sanctions derive from UK information and analysis. As such, maintaining dialogue in relation to these sanctions after the UK has left the EU will be of mutual importance to the UK and the EU. Coordination on these existing EU sanctions could include the sharing of information and analysis on current issues and seeking a common approach where that might be possible.
ii. For new EU sanctions imposed after the UK has left the EU, given that sanctions are a complex and technical tool, subject to litigation and often designed at pace, mechanisms to enable UK-EU coordination on a range of technical details could be of mutual benefit. Using our diplomatic and technical expertise on sanctions, including in Brussels, the UK can offer support if there is mutual interest in doing so. This might include a scenario where the UK and the EU decide that common sanctions should be imposed, in which case a coordination process to discuss the details of those sanctions could assist in ensuring as much consistency and efficacy as possible, e.g. having measures come into force at the same time will prevent the risk of asset flight, or looking to ensure that exemptions are analogous.
iii. In respect of reviews of sanctions listings the UK may be in a strong position to contribute to these reviews, particularly where those listings were originally proposed by the UK, including by providing relevant evidence and information.
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