{"id":793352,"date":"2026-02-27T21:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/793352\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T21:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:37:13","slug":"what-are-gibraltars-new-post-brexit-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/793352\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Gibraltar’s new post-Brexit rules?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK, Gibraltar and the EU are set to end \u201calmost a decade of uncertainty for the British overseas territory since the Brexit referendum\u201d, said London\u2019s The Standard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A draft treaty<\/a> drawn up by the three governments aims to \u201cprotect British sovereignty, UK military autonomy and secure Gibraltar<\/a>\u2019s economic future\u201d. Madrid will hope, however, that this deal drags the territory further towards Spanish control.<\/p>\n

What is in the treaty?<\/p>\n

Though not fully ratified, the draft treaty claims to tackle the \u201clast major unresolved issue from Brexit<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Under the new rules, the UK will allow Spanish border guards to check passports for those entering territory by air or sea. This means that these arrivals will present their passports to both British and Spanish authorities \u2013 in \u201cdual border control checks\u201d similar to those seen at Eurostar terminals at London\u2019s St Pancras.<\/p>\n

In effect, this \u201cshifts the EU\u2019s external border from the between Spain<\/a> and Gibraltar to the Rock\u2019s points of arrival\u201d, said The Times<\/a>. Gibraltar will not become part of the EU, but residents will be able to pass into Spain freely, and vice versa. The \u201cbarbed-wire fence\u201d separating Gibraltar from Spain is \u201cexpected to be dismantled\u201d after more than a century to create a \u201cfluid border\u201d for people and goods.<\/p>\n

As a result, \u201cthe Rock effectively becomes part of the EU\u2019s Schengen zone of passport-free movement\u201d, said The Telegraph<\/a>. By removing the land border, the \u201cdeal protects Gibraltar residents and Spaniards from post-Brexit rules\u201d, meaning they are no longer subject to the visa-free travel limit of 90 days every 180 days.<\/p>\n

In terms of customs, Gibraltar must now \u201calign with EU single market rules\u201d and be \u201csubject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice\u201d. This means that \u201ccigarettes and alcohol will no longer be as cheap on the Rock\u201d. Gibraltar will keep its zero-VAT regime but a new \u201ctransaction tax\u201d starting at 15% will apply to goods imported to the territory for sale.<\/p>\n

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Crucially, the draft agreement does not affect sovereignty of the territory. According to the treaty, the UK will \u201cnever enter into arrangements\u201d where sovereignty would pass to another state against the \u201cfreely and democratically expressed wishes\u201d of the Gibraltarian people.<\/p>\n

Why now?<\/p>\n

Gibraltar was ceded by Spain<\/a> to the UK in 1713, under the Treaty of Utrecht, and the resident population is \u201cheavily in favour of remaining a British overseas territory\u201d, said The Independent<\/a>. The last time Gibraltar voted on the issue of sharing sovereignty with Spain, in 2002, \u201calmost 99% of Gibraltarians rejected the move\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spain had been due to apply the EU\u2019s new automated \u201cEntry\/Exit\u201d border system<\/a> from April, which would include biometric checks on the border with Gibraltar, said the BBC<\/a>. If no agreement had been reached, there would have been \u201cmandatory passport checks\u201d at air, land and sea borders, which would \u201cdevastate Gibraltar\u2019s economy\u201d, lead to \u201cendless\u201d entry queues and cost \u201chundreds of millions a year\u201d to UK taxpayers, according to the proposed treaty.<\/p>\n

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Who will it affect?<\/p>\n

Around 15,000 people \u2013 just under half of the territory\u2019s 35,000 population \u2013 cross the border each day, mainly for work purposes. They will not need to have their passports checked and can pass through freely.<\/p>\n

What has the reaction been?<\/p>\n

The \u201csafe and secure\u201d proposals allow Gibraltar to \u201clook to the future with confidence\u201d, while \u201cprotecting our British way of life\u201d and exploring \u201cnew opportunities for growth and prosperity\u201d, said Fabian Picardo, the chief minister of Gibraltar.<\/p>\n

British and Spanish diplomats hope \u201cthe treaty will improve bilateral relations\u201d, said The Standard. However, Spain wants to \u201cstrengthen\u201d its \u201clegal claim on the Rock, leading the way for Madrid to wield greater influence over the territory\u201d. Some in the UK, meanwhile, may see the deal as an \u201cerosion of sovereignty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Any agreement that \u201chands Spain new powers over entry, residency, infrastructure or enforcement must be examined line by line by Parliament before it takes effect\u201d, said shadow Foreign Office minister Wendy Morton.<\/p>\n

What will happen next?<\/p>\n

The treaty has been published in draft, so still needs to be reviewed by legal teams from all parties. Then it will have to be ratified by both the UK, Gibraltarian and European parliaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cGibraltar\u2019s government says it is hoping to provisionally apply the deal from 10 April,\u201d said the BBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK, Gibraltar and the EU are set to end \u201calmost a decade of uncertainty for the British…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-793352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116144756952566830","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}