Legislating for Brexit: EU external agreements

The Europa Treaties database lists 890 bilateral and 259 multilateral international treaties and agreements which the EU or the EU and the Member States have signed and/or ratified. Most have been concluded and signed by the EU and have not needed national ratification. But many are so-called 'mixed agreements', which both the EU and the individual Member States have ratified because they contain some policy provisions which are within the EU’s exclusive competence and others which are within the competence of the Member States.

Opinions differ on the effects of Brexit on external agreements. On balance, most analysts believe that both exclusive and mixed agreements will fall on Brexit day, and will have to be renegotiated after Brexit, or possibly in parallel with negotiations on the withdrawal agreement (could this be achieved within the two-year negotiating period?). There is a view, however, that where the UK has ratified a mixed agreement in its own right, aspects of the mixed agreement will remain in force.

This paper considers how Brexit might affect EU external agreements. Sections 2 and 3 list bilateral and multilateral EU agreements as at December 2016, noting whether they are exclusive or mixed competence, and the date of signature.

Based on information on the Europa Treaties website, there were 746 exclusive EU agreements and 229 mixed competence agreements.

This guide was one of a series of Library briefings on different elements of the EU acquis and Brexit, and will be updated periodically.

• Primary Source

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

UK: Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Publications and Records: Research publications: Brexit: the next steps for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/eu-referendum/

ESO: Background information: Legislating for Brexit: the Great Repeal Bill http://www.europeansources.info/record/legislating-for-brexit-the-great-repeal-bill/

ESO: Background information: Legislating for Brexit: directly applicable EU law http://www.europeansources.info/record/legislating-for-brexit-directly-applicable-eu-law/

ESO: Background information: Legislating for Brexit: Statutory Instruments implementing EU law http://www.europeansources.info/record/legislating-for-brexit-statutory-instruments-implementing-eu-law/

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