Draft Extraterritorial US Legislation (Sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Libya) (Protection of Trading Interests) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022

Nia Griffith Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2022 General Committees

[Dame Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mrs Harris, for calling me to speak and it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning.

I rise to speak for the official Opposition on the Extraterritorial US Legislation (Sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Libya) (Protection of Trading Interests) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022. I thank the Minister for setting out the purpose of this legislation with helpful examples and I also thank the officials, who have been most helpful.

The need for this legislation arises because the UK has left the EU and is no longer under any obligation to follow EU policy. As I understand it, there are two purposes to this legislation. The first is to amend article 4(4) of the Extraterritorial US Legislation (Sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Libya) (Protection of Trading Interests) Order 1996 to correct deficiencies arising from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU by updating a cross-reference to section 30(3) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.

This legislative amendment continues existing policy—it maintains the status quo—and, as such, we support it. It ensures that where the UK and the US differ in their approach to sanctions against third countries—in this case, Iran and Cuba—UK companies are not penalised by the United States for not complying with the way the US sanction regime operates.

The second purpose of this legislation is to remove an obsolete reference to Council Regulation EC2271/96, the EC counter-measures regulation, which no longer applies in the UK. This is for the purpose of consistency and removes the need for the Secretary of State to have regard to measures related to the counter-measures regulation when carrying out a future regulatory review under article 4 of the 1996 order. This reflects the reality that the UK has left the European Union, and we support this measure.

Unusually, I do not have any questions to put to the Minister this morning, as I am satisfied with the explanations given for the need for and the purpose of this legislation, and I confirm Labour’s support for this legislation.