House of Lords Constitution Committee reports on parliamentary scrutiny of treaties (July 2019)   In October 2018, the House of Lords Constitution Committee launched an inquiry into parliamentary scrutiny of treaties. That inquiry appears to have been particularly prompted by a perception that Parliament's scrutiny of treaties needs to be reviewed in the context of Brexit. We report briefly on the Constitution Committee's key findings, and on the Government's response. Read more »

Spotlight on the UK-Singapore BIT in the context of Brexit (July 2019)   The EU has negotiated two new trade and investment protection agreements with Singapore (the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and the EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement (IPA)). The agreements were signed in October 2018 and received the consent of the European Parliament on 13 February 2019. At the time of writing, neither is yet in force. The new EU-Singapore IPA makes provision for the suspension or termination of certain existing bilateral investment treaties between EU Member States and Singapore, as and when the IPA is provisionally applied or enters into force (respectively). As things stand, the provisional application or entry into force of the EU-Singapore IPA while the UK remains an EU Member State, or during the transition period (under any final Withdrawal Agreement), could have complications for UK investors in Singapore and vice versa. Read more »

Update on international agreements post-Brexit (April 2019)   In April 2019, Laura Rees-Evans gave a presentation on the status of the UK’s international agreements post-Brexit. The UK is a party to or enjoys the benefits of over 1000 international agreements with third countries and international organisations by virtue of its membership of the EU. Those agreements cover a range of subject matters, including air services, fisheries, insurance, nuclear cooperation, (political) association, mutual recognition, trade and land transport. The draft Withdrawal Agreement makes arrangements for the continuation of international agreements during the implementation period. To prepare for the end of the implementation period or a ‘no deal’ scenario, the UK Government has been working “to identify which international agreements need to be retained on exit, and to put in place arrangements with international partners to replicate the effects of the current agreements”. To view the presentation, please click here

Brexit implications for the dispute resolution and international trade lawyer (October 2016)   Laura Rees-Evans gave an interview to LexisPSL on 26 October 2016 on the implications of Brexit for the dispute and international trade lawyer. Among other issues, Laura highlighted the benefits of Brexit in the context of the rising tide against intra-EU BITs, and, on the other hand, the uncertainty created by Brexit over the status of other treaties to which the UK is party via its membership of the EU. The article is available in full here