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The International Agreements Sub-Committee has today published a new report on three international agreements.

• Report: Scrutiny of international agreements: UK-US Spaceports Agreement; and UK Fisheries Framework Agreements with Norway and the Faroe Islands (HTML)
• Report: Scrutiny of international agreements: UK-US Spaceports Agreement; and UK Fisheries Framework Agreements with Norway and the Faroe Islands (PDF)
• International Agreements Sub-Committee

Treaties

Reported for special attention:

• Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Notes between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the United States of America on Technology Safeguards associated with United States Participation in Space Launches from the United Kingdom
• Framework Agreement on Fisheries, done at London on 30 September 2020, between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway

Reported for information:

• Framework Agreement on Fisheries between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Faroes

The report

In its report, the Committee highlights an overarching issue about how the Government’s Explanatory Memoranda (EMs) detail consultation with the devolved administrations. It is essential that the Government explains whether the devolved governments support an international agreement or have raised concerns about it.

The UK-US Spaceports Agreement and the UK-Norway Fisheries Framework Agreement are both drawn to the special attention of the house on the basis that they are politically important and give rise to issues of public policy that the House may wish to debate prior to ratification. Additionally, the Committee considers that the explanatory material laid in support of the UK-US agreement provides insufficient information on the agreement’s policy objective and on how it will be implemented.