Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980

United Kingdom legislation
Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to provide protection from requirements, prohibitions and judgments imposed or given under the laws of countries outside the United Kingdom and affecting the trading or other interests of persons in the United Kingdom.
Citation1980 c. 11
Dates
Royal assent20 March 1980
Commencement20 March 1980
Other legislation
Repeals/revokesShipping Contracts and Commercial Documents Act 1964
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980 (c. 11) is an act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament to counter American assertions of extraterritorial jurisdiction.[1]

Introducing the bill in the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Trade, John Nott, claimed that its purpose was "to reassert and reinforce the defences of the United Kingdom" against attempts by the United States "to enforce their economic and commercial policies unilaterally on us" by "the most objectionable method" of "the extra-territorial application of domestic law".[2]

The act gives the Secretary of State for Trade the authority to "give to any person in the United Kingdom who carries on business there such directions for prohibiting compliance" with laws of a foreign state which control or regulate international trade in a way which damages British trading interests.[3]

The act also prohibits British corporations from giving documentation to a potentially hostile foreign interest and empowers British courts to seize the assets of any overseas power which impounded assets of British corporations.[4]

The act restricts the enforceability of judgments for multiple damages. Section 5 provides that British courts will not enforce a judgment for "an amount arrived at by doubling, trebling or otherwise multiplying a sum assessed as compensation".[5]

References

  1. ^ Robert Self, British Foreign and Defence Policy Since 1945: Challenges and Dilemmas in a Changing World (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), p. 92.
  2. ^ House of Commons Debates 15 November 1979 vol 973 c 1533
  3. ^ "The War of the Laws: Coping with Helms-Burton, the Iran-Libya Sanctions and Beyond". Archived from the original on 21 July 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  4. ^ "Banking on Poverty".
  5. ^ "International Litigation & Arbitration Newsletter Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 3 - March 2004". Archived from the original on 23 May 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
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