UK Parliament: Q&A On Free Trade Agreements
“In international law the Overseas Territories [OTs] are not sovereign states in their own right and have no separate international legal personality,” Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said.
This is according to a recent session in UK Parliament, in which Viscount Waverley asked, “To ask His Majesty’s Government whether the Overseas Territories are permitted to negotiate their own free trade agreements with third countries.”
In response, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office], said, “In international law the Overseas Territories [OTs] are not sovereign states in their own right and have no separate international legal personality. As such, they cannot enter into international agreements directly [including Free Trade Agreements], unless expressly authorised to do so by the UK Government under an entrustment. Agreements entered into by the UK may provide for their application to the OTs, or be extended to the OTs at a later date.”
Read More About
Category: All
