On 4 March 2024, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (“FCDO”) published a Post-Legislative Scrutiny Memorandum (the “Memorandum”) for the UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (“SAMLA”). The Memorandum (available here) provides an assessment of the functioning of SAMLA and UK sanctions regimes underpinned by SAMLA, following the UK’s introduction of an autonomous sanctions framework post-Brexit. The Memorandum covers a broad range of areas relating to SAMLA and the UK’s sanctions framework, including…
On February 1, 2024, President Biden issued Executive Order 14115 (“EO 14115”) targeting persons involved in activities that threaten the peace, security, and stability in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the UK government announced on 12 February 2024 sanctions on “extremist Israeli settlers” who have committed human rights abuses against Palestinian communities. Pursuant to EO 14115, four individuals were added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). Concurrently, the US Treasury Department’s…
On 14 December 2023, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) published its 2022-2023 annual review (see here). The review summarises OFSI’s activities over the 2022-2023 financial year and looks ahead at trends and OFSI’s priorities for the next year. Russia Sanctions The report has a particular focus on the UK’s expanded Russia sanctions regime, stating that by 31 March 2023, “130 oligarchs and family members” who had a combined net worth of around £145…
On Monday 11 December 2023, the UK Government updated its Notice to Importers (see here), published a new General Trade Licence (see here) and updated its guidance (see here) in relation to the UK’s iron and steel sanctions targeting Russia. As noted in our previous blog in April 2023, the UK introduced sanctions imposing a prohibition on the import of iron and steel products where the metal originated in Russia but was processed in a…