UK Sanctions Regimes

Abstract

Abstract There are two principle sources of sanctions regimes applicable to the UK, this chapter shows: those of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN). The chapter first looks at the EU regime. The EU operates thirty-eight different sanctions regimes as of May 2016. They are of two types: regimes designed to implement UN-mandated sanctions regimes; and the EU’s autonomous sanctions regimes. Current EU policy on sanctions has been continuously updated. As the EU Basic Principles make clear, the EU looks principally to the UN Security Council as the source of sanctions. The UK sanctions regimes, which give effect to UN sanctions regimes, are principally introduced for three purposes: to legislate in the absence of EU competence (for example to introduce financial sanctions against so-called ‘domestic’ terrorists); to give effect to EU regimes (for example to impose penalties for failure to comply with obligations introduced by means of an EU Regulation); and to introduce measures ahead of an EU regime (where by acting unilaterally, the UK can act more speedily) or even independently.