CELS Seminar: 'The UK-EU Agreement in respect of Gibraltar'

When the UK and the EU concluded the Trade and Cooperation Agreement at the end of 2020, Gibraltar was deliberately left outside its scope. After more than four years of negotiation between the UK, the EU and Spain, with the Government of Gibraltar advising the UK team, to agree the yet closest relationship of UK related territory with the EU. The negotiations benefited from a political agreement in June 2025, a finalised legal text in December 2025, and the draft Treaty jointly published by the UK and the EU on 26 February 2026. The Committee of Permanent Representatives unanimously greenlit the texts on 1 April 2026, and the Agreement is now expected to enter provisional application on 15 July 2026, with formal ratification under the UK Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the parallel EU procedures to follow.

The Treaty is genuinely novel in EU external relations practice. It will remove routine physical checks at the land frontier with Spain, with full Schengen border controls relocated to Gibraltar's airport and port and operated under a tailored, dual-control architecture. Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory that remains outside both the EU and Schengen, will simultaneously join the EU customs union and dynamically align with substantial parts of the EU acquis, including in goods, environment, energy, social and labour standards, transport and indirect taxation.

The CELS seminar will examine the draft Treaty across three panels with experts from both the University of Cambridge and beyond.

• Panel I — Foundations considers the dynamic alignment technique, Gibraltar's constitutional position, the legal debate in Spain, the customs union, and institutional design in comparison with the EEA.
• Panel II — General Regulation turns to the free movement of persons, energy and sustainable development, human rights, and dispute settlement.
• Panel III — Specific Regulation addresses the sectoral chapters on financial services, gambling and e-commerce, together with the application of the dispute settlement mechanism in those sectors.

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Registration and coffee from 13:30.

This hybrid seminar is open to all online but will have limited in-person space.

Register to attend in person (spaces limited)

Register to attend online