On Monday, 3 July 2023, the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, will have its second reading in the House of Commons. Al-Haq, warns that the Bill may place the United Kingdom, in breach of its international law obligations with regard to the occupied Palestinian territory and occupied Syrian Golan.

The unwarranted singling out of Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and the occupied Golan Heights, in a blanket exclusion from the exemption of the application of the Bill, may have a chilling effect on decision-makers from taking any decision in relation to these territories, including on illegal settlements.

The Bill gives unfettered enforcement powers to the Secretary of State, the Treasury, and the Office for Students. The Bill operates to prevent decision-makers in public bodies from implementing decisions on divestments and procurements, where the decision-maker may have been influenced, even in part, by boycott campaigners. This has a chilling effect on the decision maker, who may risk compliance with international law obligations and abandon legitimate procurement and divestment decisions on such considerations.

The Bill is vaguely drafted with vague criteria placed on “a reasonable observer”, who must determine whether “a decision was influenced by political or moral disapproval of a foreign state conduct”. These are subjective standards devoid of legal certainty. Similarly, the clause proving that “‘territorial consideration’ is a consideration that relates specifically or mainly to a particular foreign territory”, is vaguely drafted and it is unclear whether the conduct pertains narrowly to a “territorial consideration”.

The silencing of decision-makers is effectively a gagging order and amounts to a serious infringement on the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Bill places the UK at considerable risk of breaching its international law obligations vis-a-vis occupied Palestine. 

Accordingly, Al-Haq calls for MPs to oppose the Bill in full. 

Please find attached our briefing note for further details attached here.