On 20 May 2025, the European Union adopted its 17th sanctions package in response to Russiaâs ongoing war against Ukraine. Building on the extensive measures already in place, this package signals a further tightening of economic and legal pressure points, with over 2,400 individuals and entities now sanctioned. Notably, the package reflects a growing willingness by the EU to extend its sanctions regime not only in scope but in geographic and sectoral reach. This blog…
On March 25, 2025, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved a draft bill to implement Directive (EU) 2024/1226 on the definition of criminal offenses and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures and amending Directive (EU) 2018/1673 (âDraft Billâ and âDirectiveâ, respectively). The Directive established minimum Member State requirements concerning the definition of criminal offenses and penalties for the violation and circumvention of EU sanctions. For further detail on the Directive, see our blog post…
On 21 August 2024, the Swiss Federal Council announced the adoption of certain measures included in the European Commission’s 14th package of sanctions against Russia, which will enter into force on 27 August 2024 (the official media release is available here). The adoption of further measures of the 14th EU package is currently under consideration by the Swiss Federal Council. The newly adopted measures mainly consist in (i) an alignment with the EU diamond ban,…
On 29 June 2024, the EU adopted a new Belarus sanctions package by amending Council Regulation (EU) 765/2006 (the âEU Belarus Sanctionsâ), effective from 1 July 2024. The amending regulation can be found here. The new package increases the alignment of the EU Belarus Sanctions with the EUâs sanctions against Russia (including those contained in Regulation (EU) 833/2014 (the âEU Russia Sanctionsâ), as recently updated), in order to address the risk of circumvention. The new…