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 (measures against the Russian financial, energy and defence sectors, and, dual-use goods) in January 2017 here.
Sanctions renewal
Under recently adopted legislation which can be found here and here, in view of the continuing undermining or threatening of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of the Ukraine the EU has extended and updated certain sanctions against Russia consisting of an asset freeze and a travel ban, which is now against 150 persons and 37 entities, for another six months, i.e. until 15 September 2017.
Further, under other recently adopted EU legislation which can be found here the EU has also extended asset freezes against 15 people responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds etc. until 6 March 2018.
Rosneft challenge
In another recent development, the European Court of Justice rejected Rosneft’s challenge against the validity of certain of the EU sanctions (as implemented in the UK) in a judicial review matter originally brought before the UK courts, which can be found here.
What about Brexit?
The application of the EU sanctions regime in the UK is not affected by the outcome of the UK’s Brexit referendum, for the moment at least.
What does this mean?
Although these various sanctions against Russia and the Ukraine have been in place for some time, it is never too late to for a business 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 see here
For more information please contact André Bywater who is a lawyer with Cordery in London where his focus is on compliance issues.
| André Bywater, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH | ||
| Office: +44 (0)207 075 1785 | ||
| Andre.bywater@corderycompliance.com | ||
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