Power to Make, Amend, and Suspend Sanctions

The potential scope of UK sanctions has been considerably broadened by the 2018 Act. HM Government can now impose sanctions regulations considered ‘appropriate’ for a diverse range of purposes. These include those made to comply with a UN obligation or any other international obligation, for the prevention of terrorism, in the interests of national or international peace and security or, most broadly of all, to further a UK foreign policy objective. Further, the Magnitsky amendment was a late change to the Act, allowing the UK to impose sanctions on people who commit gross human rights violations. The scope of the UK sanctions regime is therefore wider post-Brexit, given UK sanctions will not effectively need approval by the twenty-seven other EU Member States in the future.