BREXIT: UK and EU could set different policies on international sanctions, says expert, as Russia sanctions are extended

This is part of Out-Law's series of news and insights from Pinsent Masons experts on the impact of the UK's EU referendum. Watch our video on the issues facing businesses and sign up to receive our 'What next?' checklist.

Stacy Keen of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that it is not yet clear whether the UK would adopt a different approach on sanctions to the EU post-Brexit. However, she said that there would be greater freedom for the UK to act differently on sanctions from the EU if it wished to than under current arrangements.

Keen was commenting after the EU decided to extend existing sanctions on trade with Russia until 31 January 2017.

"When the UK formally exits the EU the UK will need to implement its own sanctions to maintain any existing prohibitions on trade that exist at the time of exit imposed on businesses through EU regulation," Keen said. "It is possible in future that the UK, outside the EU movement, could impose a different set of sanctions on trade than EU leaders."

"Equally the UK might decide to 'piggy back' on EU policies on sanctions in the same way Switzerland does at the moment. I suspect the UK's approach will largely depend on the appetite of the UK government of the time to assert its own foreign policy and the substance of the measures the EU imposes," she said.

"The UK currently has the freedom to implement additional sanctions beyond those imposed at EU level but the EU regulations imposing sanctions set a minimum standard that must be adhered to. In the case of Russian sanctions it was the UK government that pushed hard for EU sanctions to be implemented and enforced. In future the UK's voice on those issues might be less influential at EU level, and thus spur different approaches. It is something businesses operating cross border will need to be mindful of post-Brexit," Keen said.

The sanctions on Russia were first introduced in July 2014, and are designed to discourage Russia from, in the words of the EU Regulation, "destabilising the situation in Ukraine". The sanctions include measures to limit access to EU capital markets for Russian state-owned financial institutions, an embargo on arms trading, an export ban on 'dual use' goods for military use, and restrictions on the use of certain technologies, in particular by the oil sector.