Sanctions Regimes Archives

New mandatory UK sanctions reporting obligations for suspected sanctions breaches kick in under expanded “relevant firms” definition

May 15, 2025 By Ben Smith (UK), Andrew Rose (UK), Sophie Armstrong (UK) and Zak Clifton (UK) 1 Min Read

From 14 May 2025, certain additional businesses are now subject to mandatory sanctions reporting obligations as changes to the definition of “relevant firms” for financial sanctions reporting purposes come into force. Consequently, High Value Dealers (HVDs), Art Market Participants (AMPs), Letting Agents and Insolvency Practitioners are now legally required to report to OFSI whether they have knowledge or reasonable cause to suspect the presence of sanctioned parties, or suspected financial sanctions breaches. These obligations were…

UK Partially Suspends Sanctions Targeting Syria

May 7, 2025 By Sven Bates (UK), Courtney Mackness (UK), Keir Burbidge (UK) and Rachel Rotimi (UK) 3 Mins Read

On 24 April 2025, the UK government published the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, which took effect on 25 April 2025 (“Amending Regulations”). These new regulations amend the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to partially suspend a number of significant sanctions that have been in place for over a decade to reflect the developments to the political situation in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. The UK…

UK Publishes New Russia Sanctions Regulations

April 28, 2025 By Sven Bates (UK), Courtney Mackness (UK), Keir Burbidge (UK) and Rachel Rotimi (UK) 3 Mins Read

On 23 April 2025, the UK government published the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, which took effect on 24 April 2025. These new regulations amended the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to introduce additional trade restrictions, focusing on export and import prohibitions, technology, and software transfers. We have set out summaries of the key new measures below. Sectoral Software The amending regulations introduce prohibitions on making available and transferring “sectoral software” to…

Brazilian Economic Reciprocity Law is published to safeguard Brazilian interests against unilateral measures adopted by other countries or economic blocs

April 22, 2025 By Francisco Negrão (Brazil), Paulo Casagrande (Brazil), Andrea Cruz (Brazil) and Deborah Melo (Brazil) 4 Mins Read

In a context of increasing trade barriers to Brazilian exports, especially the additional tariffs imposed by the United States (US Reciprocal Tariffs) that include Brazilian exports, in addition to environmental restrictions on the export of Brazilian products by the European Union and other countries (such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and other carbon control mechanisms (e.g. UK CBAM), imposed by the European Union and other countries), Law No. 15.122/2025 (known as the “Economic Reciprocity Law”)…