Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 4 July 2018 to Question 157685 on South Sudan: Sanctions, whether the power to issue sanctions under the Magnitsky clauses contained in the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 would come into force (a) on the day the UK leaves the EU or (b) at the end of a transitional period.

The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (the Sanctions Act) provides powers for the UK to make secondary legislation to impose sanctions, including to provide accountability for, or to deter, gross human rights violations. On 6 March 2019, the FCO laid S.I. 2019/438 in Parliament for the UK to impose, once commenced, South Sudan sanctions for a range of purposes, including promoting respect for human rights and the peace, stability and security of South Sudan. During the Implementation Period (IP), the UK will remain bound by EU sanctions. We will look to use the powers provided by the Sanctions Act to the fullest extent possible during the IP, but there are some limitations on the measures that we can impose autonomously.