Non-trade agreements are also critical to the UK’s relationships with other countries. By law, the UK was excluded from all bilateral agreements with the EU on 1 January 2021. In early 2019, the EU’s Treaties database listed 1,261 international agreements to which the EU is party in a mixture of bilateral and multilateral treaties. Analysis by the FT found that those of interest to the UK related to 168 countries.
However, not all of the treaties required action to maintain continuity following Brexit. The government’s view was that about 1,000 EU treaties were relevant. A smaller number would need to be replaced in the event of ‘no deal’.
In March 2019, the government listed 158 international agreements, across different policy areas, that it was seeking to replace should the UK leave the EU without a deal. It also referred to an unspecified number of additional agreements in certain policy areas.
Non-trade areas that these agreements covered include:
- aviation
- environment
- fisheries
- justice
- political cooperation
- nuclear co-operation and safeguards
The UK remains a party to most mixed multilateral agreements (where it was already a party in its own right) but the UK would not remain party to mixed bilateral agreements. Around a quarter (over 300) of the EU’s international agreements are “mixed” agreements which cover competences shared by the EU and member states. At the UK’s request, the EU notified other parties to international agreements that the UK was to be treated as a member state during the transition period for the purposes of these agreements.