GIBRALTAR IN EUROPE

Gibraltar has a special relationship with the European Union, unlike that of any other colony or possession of a member state. Under the Treaty of Rome 1973 and the United Kingdom’s Act of Accession of the same year, Gibraltar was classified as a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. As noted above, Gibraltar has its own Parliament which is responsible for passing legislation, including European Community Directives. However, the United Kingdom Government is responsible for Gibraltar’s foreign affairs, including its relationships within the European Union. Gibraltar is therefore not a separate EU state (nor a member in its own right of the EEA) but a territory for which a member state – the UK – is responsible for the purpose of single market directives. So the single market directives (including the IMD) apply to it. As part of the arrangements for its attachment to Britain within Europe, Gibraltar was granted derogation from three principal elements of European law – the Common Customs Tariff. the Common Agricultural Policy (Gibraltar has no agriculture as such) and the Value Added Tax rules. Otherwise Gibraltar has to act as a member state, albeit elements such as regulations of financial activity in theory fall under the remit of the appropriate UK authorities.