On 18 July 2023, the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) published a statement that it had recently arrested a Dutch citizen in an ongoing investigation into suspected circumvention of EU sanctions against Russia. As part of the investigation, the FIOD also seized the business inventory and digital and physical administration of the suspect and his company. The arrested individual is suspected of exporting computers and computer parts to Russia in violation of EU sanctions.…
Having focused on the enforcement of sanctions by Australia, Ukraine, and Switzerland in the past weeks, we now turn our attention to the sanctions enforcement trends in the Netherlands. What are the recent sanctions enforcement trends in the Netherlands? Recent sanctions enforcement trends in the Netherlands are mainly focused on Russia. Although the Dutch government previously already took a more restrictive (sanctions) policy position towards Russia, this is particularly the case since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last…
On 9 May 2023, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced further details on the proposed eleventh package of EU sanctions against Russia. According to the press statement issued by the European Commission and related press reports, the proposed package mainly focuses on combatting circumvention of EU sanctions. More specifically, it would include the following additional measures: Ban of ‘shadow’ entities from Russia and third countries that are intentionally circumventing EU…
In a judgment of 10 January 2023 (ECLI:NL:HR:2023:2), the Dutch Supreme Court confirmed that the applicable standard of proof for “intentional” violations of EU sanctions under Dutch law is generally low. The judgment confirmed that, although the intent of the accused with regard to the constituent elements of the relevant sanctions prohibition must be sufficiently proven to establish an intentional violation, intent does not need to be proven as to the unlawfulness of the conduct.…