In recent weeks, there have been a number of noteworthy developments highlighting the increasing focus that US, EU, UK and other governments are placing on the potential circumvention of sanctions against Russia, and the roles of third countries and companies in facilitating the circumvention or undermining of such sanctions measures. These anti-circumvention efforts are taking place in the context of the G7’s concerted effort to bolster sanctions enforcement around the world, through the creation of…
On 31 December 2020, the UK’s Brexit transition period with the EU ended, and the UK became a third country with respect to the EU from a sanctions and export controls perspective. The UK now has its own autonomous sanctions and export control regimes – closely related to the EU’s regimes, but with important differences and complexities that clients need to be aware of. We have written an alert that summarises the key considerations for companies in…
On 12 January 2021, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced new measures to ensure that UK companies are neither complicit in, nor profit from, alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, China. See press release here. Under the new measures, the UK will review export controls in order to prevent exports of goods potentially contributing, either directly or indirectly, to alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. This review will determine specific items that will become subject…