Baker McKenzie’s Canadian international trade and customs team is publishing a series of articles reviewing 2023 trade and customs compliance developments and looking ahead to 2024’s burgeoning issues. This article focuses on Canada’s economic sanctions regime. Canada’s sanctions regime underwent significant legislative amendments in 2023, which expanded the Government’s authority to prohibit certain dealings; meanwhile the Government has yet to publish guidance on its novel legislative provisions, sanctions permit approvals are rare, and there remain…
On February 6, 2024, Canada announced that 11 individuals affiliated with Hamas are sanctioned under the newly enacted Special Economic Measures (Hamas Terrorist Attacks) Regulations (the “Regulations”) in response to the attacks by Hamas in Israel beginning October 7, 2023 and the threat that Hamas and its affiliates pose to Israel and regional security. The sanctions entered into force on February 2, 2024 and are effective immediately. This is the first time Canada has enacted…
On 18 December 2023, the EU published its 12th package of sanctions targeting Russia. The changes implemented in this package have a material impact on all businesses with a continued or residual presence in Russia, including those seeking to exit and divest from Russia. Moreover, all companies, even those not trading directly with Russia, should be mindful of the increased focus on targeting circumvention.In our latest on-demand webinar, we provide you with an overview of some…
What happened? On January 17, 2024, the US State Department (“State”) announced the designation of Ansarallah, commonly known as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (“SDGT”) pursuant to Executive Order 13224. The designation will be effective on February 16, 2024, at which time the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) will add Ansarallah to the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (“SDN List”). In other words, the designation…