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 (concerning the list of individuals) this year here.
Under recently adopted legislation (of the end of June 2017) the EU has extended certain sanctions against Russia yet again, for another year, i.e until 31 January 2018.
The EU sanctions regime is quite complex as it is fragmented into many different parts. This particular set of sanctions was adopted with regard to the situation in the Ukraine and later their duration was tied to the full implementation of the Minsk ceasefire/peace agreements. The EU has extended the sanctions in order to enable it to further assess the implementation of these agreements.
The sanctions that have just been extended are sectoral in nature and relate to finance, oil and gas, and, defence, along with dual-use goods.
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 | ||
| Office: +44 (0)207 075 1785 | ||
| Andre.bywater@corderycompliance.com | ||
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