Hong Kong controls dual-use items under the Import and Export Ordinance (Cap. 60) and its corresponding subsidiary legislation, the Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations (Cap. 60G) (“IESCR”). On 17 September 2021, an order to amend the list of strategic commodities under relevant schedules to the IESCR came into effect. The amendments aim to align Hong Kong’s control list with international non-proliferation regimes, including the Wassenaar Arrangement. The Trade and Industry Department has provided guidance…
On 20 August 2021, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated the UK Chemical Weapons financial sanctions regime to include seven Russian nationals linked to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader. Listed below, the individuals are subject to an freezing of assets and economic resources. Alexey Alexandrov;Vladimir Panyaev;Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov;Vladimir Mikhailovich Bogdanov;Kirill Vasilyev;Stanislav Valentinovich Makshakov;Alexei Semenovich Sedov.
On 5 August 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) imposed a GBP 50,000 penalty on TransferGo Limited (“TransferGo”), a UK FinTech company, for breaching UK sanctions when it issued instructions to make payments to accounts held at the Russian National Commercial Bank (“RNCB”), a designated party. Between 20 March 2018 and 18 December 2019, TransferGo issued instructions to make 16 payments into accounts held at RNCB, the total value of which was…
On August 9, 2021, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada significantly escalated sanctions against Belarus in a multilateral effort to put pressure on the current Lukashenko regime. These sanctions were announced on the first anniversary of the fraudulent elections held in Belarus on August 9, 2020 and follow a series of previous measures against Belarus, including most recently the coordinated measures between the UK, US, Canada and the EU in June (see our…