On 5 September 2024, the UK amended the scope of its Russia sanctions relating to the provision of certain legal advisory services to non-UK persons, as contained in Regulations 54D and 60DB of The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (âUK Russia Regulationsâ), via The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2024 (the âAmending Regulationâ). The Amending Regulation entered into force on 6 September 2024, in short (i) clarifying the knowledge a person must have…
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…
On 14 December 2023, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (âOFSIâ) published its 2022-2023 annual review (see here). The review summarises OFSI’s activities over the 2022-2023 financial year and looks ahead at trends and OFSI’s priorities for the next year. Russia Sanctions The report has a particular focus on the UK’s expanded Russia sanctions regime, stating that by 31 March 2023, “130 oligarchs and family members” who had a combined net worth of around ÂŁ145…