(Secretary of State for
Exiting the European Union): The UK has strong
partnerships with virtually every country around the world and
aims to strengthen them as we leave the European Union.
During the UK’s membership of the EU, important aspects of these
relationships have been governed through EU arrangements: through
formal and informal cooperation and collaboration; dialogues;
memoranda of understanding; regulatory arrangements; and in some
cases through international agreements or treaties.
The Government has been committed to preserving the relationships
governed by these agreements and arrangements. Accordingly,
Article 129 of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) specifies that, for
the duration of the transition period, the UK will remain bound
by the obligations under existing EU-Third Country international
agreements. In addition, the asterisk to Article 129(1) provides
for the EU to issue a notification to its treaty partners stating
that the UK is to be treated as an EU Member State for the
purposes of those agreements.
Following signature of the Withdrawal Agreement on 24 January,
the EU has now issued the notification described above to its
treaty partners, as well as to the depositaries of multilateral
agreements to which it is a party.
This notification provides an important platform for continuity.
Some EU treaty partners may choose to respond publicly to the
EU’s notification, but this is not a precondition for continuity
provided a treaty partner intends the UK to be covered and
continues to act accordingly.
If businesses or other stakeholders find that these arrangements,
for whatever reason, are not being implemented smoothly, they
should make their concerns known to the relevant UK authorities.
As of 1 February, the UK will also become bound by any
obligations stemming from EU international agreements which are
concluded or provisionally applied during the transition period.
The Government expects that the arrangements above will also
apply to such agreements.
To prepare for the end of the transition period, the Government
will continue to work to transition those international
agreements which are relevant and necessary, where there is
mutual interest to do so. In some cases, this will be through a
formal successor treaty between the UK and a third country or
group of countries. In other cases, this will be through another
type of arrangement, for example a memorandum of understanding.
