Former European Commission official to give evidence on sanctions policy to Lords EU Committee

Mr Matthews, now a Senior Director at Dechert LLP, will be giving evidence at 10.05am in Room 1 of the House of Lords.

Questions the Committee is likely to ask include:

• How does the European Commission design and agree EU sanctions?
• To what extent do staff co-ordinate with other EU institutions, such as the External Action Service and the Council, when designing sanctions?
• What role does formal and informal co-ordination on designing and updating sanctions regimes at staff level between EU Member States play?
• How could co-operation on sanctions between the UK and the EU post-Brexit work in practice?
• When drafting regulations on EU sanctions, what reference is made to regulations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in the US?
• Would you expect there to be a change in the way sanctions are enforced in the UK after Brexit? What are your thoughts on the proposed Sanctions Bill?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of being part of the EU sanctions regime for UK businesses?
• What assessment have businesses operating in the UK made of the possible impact of complying with an independent UK sanctions regime, as opposed to an EU regime?

This evidence session is part of the House of Lords EU External Affairs Sub-Committee's short inquiry into UK sanctions policy after Brexit. The inquiry is exploring:  

• the advantages and disadvantages of future co-operation between the UK and the EU on sanctions policy;
• how such co-operation might take place;
• examples of EU co-ordination with non-Member States on sanctions;
• the current sanctions regime and how this will be transposed into UK law, including through the Great Repeal Bill; and
• the impact of a separate UK sanctions regime on the UK's ability to achieve its foreign policy goals.

This evidence session will take place at 10.05am on Thursday 12 October 2017 in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords.