Liam Byrne

The previous government published a Call for Evidence in November 2023 and a response in April 2024. The Call for Evidence sought feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on the scope of the regime, the notification process and government guidance and communications. The Government is currently considering its next steps, drawing on responses received.

The Government will also review and produce a report on the Notifiable Acquisition Regulations 2021, which set out the areas of the economy in scope of the National Security and Investment Act’s mandatory notification requirements, as required by section 4 of the Notifiable Acquisitions Regulations.

The Government continues to follow the EU’s Economic Security Strategy closely and engages regularly with the EU on these matters, including through the relevant committees under Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

The UK has worked closely with the U.S. to implement commitments across all five pillars of the Atlantic Declaration, which was announced in June 2023. Key achievements include participation in the inaugural Quantum Development Group, launching the inaugural UK-US Joint Committee Meeting on Science and Technology, establishing the UK-U.S. Data Bridge, and setting up the Strategic Technology Investor Council, and establishing the US-UK Joint Standing Committee on Nuclear Energy Cooperation.

The UK looks forward to working with President-elect Trump in office, including on his policy priorities and improving UK-US trading relations to support businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Cabinet Office’s National Security Secretariat is responsible for the overall implementation of the Atlantic Declaration. It operates under the leadership of the National Security Advisor, and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics. Relevant departments are responsible for specific commitments:

• Critical and emerging technologies (Secretary of State, Department for Business and Trade and Secretary of State Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

• Economic security and technology protection toolkits and supply chains (Secretary of State Department for Business and Trade and Secretary of State Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

• Digital transformation (Secretary of State Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

• Clean Energy (Secretary of State Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

• Defence, Health Security, and Space (Secretary of State Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Cabinet Office and Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence)

The National Security Council is a Cabinet Committee, membership of Cabinet Committees is decided by the Prime Minister. Cabinet committees have a standing membership, however other Ministers will be invited according to the agenda.

The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) has in place an established process for responding at pace to changing conditions in a country where the UK has previously granted export licences, and where those licences remain extant.

The FCDO advises DBT on the situation in country and the risks this poses with respect to the UK’s export control responsibilities. The MOD advises DBT on the risks of diversion of exported goods and national security risks arising from hostile state activity. The Department of Business and Trade, with DBT Secretary of State as the decision-making authority, decides whether to amend, suspend or revoke any relevant licences.

Given its diplomatic sensitivity, the Government is unable to disclose the specific number and destination countries of Change in Circumstances Reviews.

The UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2023 is due to be published by the end of this year. It will be laid before Parliament and made available on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/united-kingdom-strategic-export-controls-annual-report.

The Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) will support businesses to meet their obligations under the UK’s trade sanctions regime through issuing guidance and engaging with a range of sectors and businesses.

OTSI has already undertaken a major programme of industry engagement and outreach and is committed to ongoing business engagement to support compliance. OTSI has already published a suite of online guidance for businesses and launched new online tools which make it easier to report a breach and apply for a licence.

OTSI is committed to supporting businesses to comply with trade sanctions by improving existing guidance as well as creating and promulgating new guidance, where necessary.

The Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) has recruited people with a wide range of professional experience from across government and the private sector to fulfil OTSI’s responsibilities of policy, licensing and enforcement of certain trade sanctions, and industry engagement, along with financial management, project delivery and business support specialists. OTSI is also supported by legal, analytical and digital experts.

OTSI is funded from the £50m Economic Deterrence Initiative (EDI) for 2023/24 and 2024/25. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is expected to publish more information on the EDI in the near future.

The Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation intends to publish an annual review covering an overview of its activities across the year, following the model set by similar units such as the Office for Financial Sanctions located in HM Treasury and the Export Control Joint Unit in the Department for Business and Trade.

We continue to keep Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Gaza under review through a regular assessments process. Our judgment on Israel's IHL compliance remains as set out in the Foreign Secretary's statement to Parliament on 2 September.

The UK uses sanctions to deter and disrupt malign behaviour and demonstrate our defence of fundamental principles, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

I recently convened Ministers from across government to deepen our cooperation on sanctions, and review enforcement measures. I also discussed sanctions enforcement with leaders of the Overseas Territories during the Joint Ministerial Council. We regularly coordinate with allies including in the United States, Canada, EU and others to maximise our impact.

This month we announced our largest sanctions package against Russia since May 2023, and working with our allies we will continue to use sanctions to further restrict the revenues and military goods Russia relies on. We have also recently used sanctions to respond to Iran's malign activity, as part of UK efforts to support a more stable West Bank, and targeted members of a Russian cybercrime gang.

UK sanctions are designed and targeted to deter and disrupt malign behaviour, and to demonstrate our defence of fundamental principles, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The FCDO conducts reviews of the effectiveness and impact of our sanctions regimes. Any assessment will depend on the intended purposes of each individual regime - which are set out in the regulations for that regime. For example on Russia we consider wider macro-economic impacts, reduction in UK exports and imports and wider changes to trading patterns, changes to designated persons' behaviour, volume of frozen assets, and alignment with international partners. I launched a cross-Government review of sanctions enforcement with the support of Ministers from His Majesty's Treasury, the Department of Business and Trade, the Department for Transport and the Home Office. Through this review the Government will consider whether we have the right powers, approach, capacity and resourcing on policy, implementation and enforcement of sanctions.

In October, I convened the first Small Ministerial Group on sanctions, which launched a cross-Government review to examine whether we have the right powers, approach, capacity and resourcing on policy, implementation and enforcement, with an urgent focus on strengthening the latter. This grouping brings together key sanctions Departments: the FCDO; His Majesty's Treasury (with responsibility for both the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and HMRC); the Department for Business and Trade (with responsibility for the Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation and shared responsibility for the Export Controls Joint Unit with the Ministry of Defence and FCDO); the Department for Transport; and the Home Office.

The government is committed to closing down sanctions loopholes, and cracking down on ever more desperate forms of sanctions circumvention, working closely with our partners. Tackling Putin's shadow fleet is a key part of this work. Since gaining the power to 'specify' vessels, the UK has sanctioned 43 tankers transporting Russian oil. A significant number of these vessels have suffered disruption or struggled to re-enter the Russian oil trade. Additionally, last week we announced that the Department for Transport is working alongside the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to challenge shadow fleet vessels with suspected inadequate insurance to provide details of their insurance status as they pass through the English Channel. We have also targeted the Kremlin's energy revenues by sanctioning 9 liquified natural gas (LNG) vessels involved in the shipping of Russian LNG, including from Russia's flagship Arctic LNG 2 project.