Since early 2014 the EU has imposed various sanctions with regard to Russia in connection with the situation in the Ukraine and the Crimea through a raft of different measures which have undergone expansion and renewal – we reported on the most recent extension at the start of this year here.
Under recently adopted legislation the EU has extended certain sanctions against Russia for another year, i.e until 23 June 2017.
The EU sanctions regime is quite complex as it is fragmented into many different parts. This particular set of sanctions was adopted because the “[EU] Council does not recognise and continues to condemn the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and will remain committed to fully implement its non-recognition policy.”
These sanctions therefore concern prohibitions against imports and exports of various goods and services as regards the Crimea and Sevastopol.
Although both these particular sanctions and other sanctions against Russia (and the Ukraine) have been in place for some time, it is never too late to do a compliance exposure check by undertaking the following:
- A due diligence screening against individuals and entities on the sanctions lists to ensure that the business is not doing business with any of these;
- A contracts clauses check on relevant contracts to ensure that provisions concerning warranties, force majeure, termination, and, liability are all up to scratch as regards sanctions; and,
- Where possible and of use (either as an alternative or a complement to contract breach risk), obtain insurance (export credit, political risk, and, trade disruption) against sanctions risks.
For a summary of the current EU sanctions regime overall with regard to Russia and the Ukraine please look here.
André Bywater is a commercial lawyer with Cordery in London where he focuses on regulatory compliance, processes and investigations.
André Bywater Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH
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