The EU adopted its 16th package of sanctions against Russia on 24 February 2025, marking the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (see blog post here). On 14 May 2025, the Swiss Federal Council decided to conclude the implementation of the measures of the EU’s 16th sanctions package relevant for Switzerland by updating the Ordinance on measures in connection with the situation in Ukraine (“Ordinance“; see press release here), thereby — once again — reinforcing their overall impact. The revised Ordinance is available here. The Swiss Federal Council also announced the upcoming alignment with the EU’s newly adopted sanctions against Belarus of 24 February 2025. The measures adopted on 14 May 2025 supplement the latest designations of 4 March 2025 in response to the EU’s 16th package, targeting 48 additional individuals, 35 entities and 74 vessels (see press release here). In addition, on 15 May 2025, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) published an update to its “Auslegungshilfe Sanktionsmassnahmen” (“SECO Guidance“, see press release here), which clarifies the application of foreign sanctions, the financial sanctions under Article 15 of the Ordinance and the newly prohibited transactions under Article 24d of the Ordinance.
The newly adopted measures in the Ordinance entered into force on 15 May 2025.
- Sanctions against Russia
The newly implemented measures mainly concern the following:
Trade sanctions
- A new exception (already existing in practice) has been formally introduced to various trade restrictions targeting several types of goods to or for use in the Russian Federation, provided the following cumulative conditions are met:
- Goods are supplied from Switzerland to states listed in Annex 34 of the Ordinance, which includes EU member states and Switzerland’s other key trade partners.
- Respective goods are intended for incorporation into military equipment (Article 2a of the Ordinance), dual-use goods (Article 4 of the Ordinance), goods that contribute to military and technological enhancement (Article 5 of the Ordinance), goods or technology for maritime shipping (Article 9a of the Ordinance) or aviation turbine fuels and fuel additives (Article 9b of the Ordinance).
- Manufacturing costs of the respective goods account for less than 50 percent of the manufacturing costs of the finished good.
- The prohibitions on the sale, etc. of dual-use goods (Article 4 of the Ordinance) and of goods that contribute to military and technological enhancement (Article 5 of the Ordinance), as well as on ancillary services and on related intellectual property rights and trade secrets, have been extended for individuals and entities as final recipients listed in Annex 2 of the Ordinance (cf. Article 4 paragraph 1 let. a and Article 5 paragraph 1 let. a of the Ordinance).
- The trade restrictions on liquified natural gas have been extended to include crude oil (Article 10a of the Ordinance), but excluding oil production projects that commenced regular commercial production before 25 February 2025.
- The trade restrictions applying to goods and software for the energy sector (Article 11 of the Ordinance) have been extended.
- The licensing grounds applicable to trade restrictions targeting goods for industrial strengthening (Article 11a paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Ordinance) have been revised.
- Annex 20 of the Ordinance now includes raw aluminum. Therefore, this product is subject to the prohibitions on purchase, import, transit and transport (including the provision of any ancillary services hereto) set forth in Article 14c of the Ordinance.
Financial Sanctions
- The licensing ground relating to the fulfillment of claims that are subject of an existing decision by a court or administrative body concerning the freezing of assets and the prohibition on making available funds and economic resources has been amended. The licensing ground now only applies if the decision has been issued in or is enforceable in Switzerland, a member state of the EEA or the UK (Article 15 paragraph 5 let. c of the Ordinance). Furthermore, a licensing ground for the prevention of hardship has been introduced (Article 15 paragraph 5-ter let. c of the Ordinance).
- SECO may authorize the provision of public funding or financial assistance of up to CHF 10 million for trade projects that benefit small and medium-sized enterprises established in Switzerland (Article 17 paragraph 3 of the Ordinance).
- A new prohibition on direct or indirect transactions with ports, locks and airports listed in Annex 15c of the Ordinance has been introduced in Article 24d of the Ordinance. Article 24d paragraphs 2 and 3 contain a number of exceptions, which generally refer to guaranteeing maritime or nuclear safety, humanitarian activities and the purchase, import or transport of certain goods from or through the Russian Federation (as provided in Article 24d paragraph 2 let. e-h of the Ordinance). Transactions covered by these exceptions must be notified to SECO within two weeks (Article 24d para. 3 of the Ordinance).
- A new prohibition on the direct connection with the financial messaging system of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation or equivalent specialized messaging systems for payment transactions established by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and on the participation in transactions with banks and other entities listed in Annex 14a of the Ordinance has been introduced in Article 27a of the Ordinance. Articles 27a and 30c of the Ordinance contain a number of exceptions from and licensing grounds for the respective prohibitions, including transactions necessary for the withdrawal of investments from the Russian Federation or the termination of business activities covered by Swiss export credit guarantees in the Russian Federation until 26 August 2025 (Article 30c-ter of the Ordinance).
- The so-called software and services ban according to Article 28e of the Ordinance has been extended. This prohibition now also includes construction and auditing services and targets services provided for legal entities established in territories listed in Annex 6 of the Ordinance.
- The prohibitions in Article 28e paragraph 1quater of the Ordinance now also include transactions relating to intellectual property rights or trade secrets in connection with manufacturing software.
Other restrictive measures
- The prohibition targeting the taking off from, landing on and flying over Swiss territory to air carriers listed in Annex 35 of the Ordinance and to entities owned or controlled by them (Article 29a paragraph 1bis of the Ordinance) has been extended, subject to certain exceptions.
- The prohibition to fulfill claims relating to contracts or transactions whose performance is restricted by sanctions has been extended to individuals and entities in territories listed in Annex 6 of the Ordinance (Article 30 let. b-bis of the Ordinance).
Measures aimed at compensation for and protection of Swiss individuals and entities
- The provision on compensation for and protection of Swiss individuals and entities (Article 30f of the Ordinance) now specifies that the right to claim covers both direct and indirect damages, including legal costs.
According to paragraph 2 of this provision, damages may have been caused not only by decisions issued under the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 302 of 25 April 2023, as subsequently amended, but also under Federal Law 470-FZ of 4 August 2023, as amended, or under equivalent Russian legislation.
Article 30f of the Ordinance includes new paragraphs 2bis to 2quater, extending the possibilities of Swiss individuals and entities to successfully lodge claims for the restitution of damages.
- Sanctions included in the EU’s 16th package not implemented in Swiss law
Some of the latest EU sanctions measures were not transferred into Swiss law. In its 16th sanctions package, the EU introduced a full prohibition on the temporary storage or the placement under so-called free zone procedures of Russian crude oil or petroleum products in EU ports, which had previously been allowed, if the oil complied with a specific price cap and went to a third country. Since Swiss customs laws do not include an equivalent to the EU’s temporary storage provision, Switzerland cannot — and does not — enforce a similar ban.
- Expansion of sanctions against Belarus
On 14 May 2025, the Swiss Federal Council also announced the adoption of the EU’s latest restrictive measures against Belarus, which were adopted on 24 February 2025. The scope of the amendments to the Ordinance on measures against Belarus of 16 March 2022 (“Belarus Ordinance“) has not yet been announced, nor has the date on which they will enter into force. However, it is anticipated that the new restrictive measures targeting Belarus will include, among others, stricter export restrictions and a ban on imports of Belarusian aluminum in its raw form. The anticipated revisions to the Belarus Ordinance are expected to further align the Belarus Ordinance with the measures imposed by the Ordinance “to prevent the circumvention of sanctions against Russia, among other things” (see press release here).
- Conclusion
As with previous EU sanctions packages, Switzerland has — once again — experienced a significant delay in implementing the 16th package, this time with a lag of nearly three months. Such delays contribute to legal uncertainty for Swiss companies and add to the growing complexity of navigating an increasingly intricate sanctions landscape, particularly in cross-border operations. Notably, on the very day Switzerland announced its implementation of the 16th package, the EU unveiled its 17th sanctions package, which, among other measures, further targets Russia’s so-called shadow fleet and was adopted on 20 May 2025. By concluding the implementation of the measures of the 16th package, the Swiss government has at least finally eliminated these significant gaps between the European and Swiss sanctions frameworks against the Russian Federation. SECO’s Guidance thereby also suffers from delayed updates and leaves certain questions unanswered.
