On April 15, 2024, Canada announced further amendments to the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations (the “Regulations”). These amendments list an additional 21 individuals under Schedule 1 of the Regulations in response to ongoing human rights violations in Belarus. The amendments took effect on April 12, 2024. The announcement follows a visit by the exiled Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to Ottawa. The individuals targeted are current and former senior government officials involved in human rights abuses…
Last week, the G7 foreign ministers met on the island of Capri in Italy, which is currently serving in the role of the G7 Presidency. As one of the only law firms with offices and sanctions experts in every G7 country, we watched the meeting with great interest to see how the G7 will be approaching sanctions in the near future. We wanted to flag two quick takeaways from the statements coming out of the…
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 March 1, 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced further import restrictions on diamonds and diamond-jewelry-related products from Russia. The amendments to the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations (the “Regulations”) prohibit any person in Canada and any Canadian outside of Canada from purchasing, importing, or acquiring certain diamonds mined or produced in Russia that are exported, processed and/or polished in a third country. The Regulations entered into force on February 29, 2024. The amendments…