The U.K. announced a new sanctions package against Belarus last week, including export restrictions on chemical and biological weapons-related products, certain machinery and bank notes, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office announced. The new restrictions also set import bans on cement, rubber, wood and gold from Belarus and prohibit "ancillary services" for all banned goods, including technical and financial assistance.
The European Council finalized its position on a proposed law that could impose criminal penalties for violating the bloc's sanctions, the council announced. The council will next negotiate with the European Parliament "to reach a common position on the draft law." If implemented, the law could define the conduct member states would criminalize, including "helping persons subject to Union restrictive measures to bypass an EU travel ban, trading sanctioned goods and running transactions with states or entities which are hit by EU restrictive measures." The law also includes varying penalties based on the offense and mandates that member states ramp up their enforcement efforts.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated two General Licenses under its Russia sanctions regimes, one covering London Court of International Arbitration payments and the other on transactions linked to agricultural commodities, including the provision of insurance and other services.
The European Parliament and Council struck a "final" deal on the Anti-Coercion Instrument (see 2303280024), the European Commission announced this week, which will allow EU to impose countermeasures, including tariffs and other trade and investment restrictions, on third countries for economic coercion. The commission expects the instrument to take effect "in the autumn of this year."
The EU imposed sanctions on nine people under its Global Human Rights sanctions regime for their role in sentencing Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison "on politically motivated charges and false allegations," the European Council announced. The individuals include the Russian Deputy Minister of Justice for enforcing Russia's "foreign agents" legislation used to crack down on civil society, judges and a senior officer of the Russian penitentiary system.
The EU will phase out by Sept. 15 a measure that had allowed five of Ukraine's neighbors to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian grains while still allowing the grains to transit through their countries, the European Commission announced. The measures were initially adopted to allow Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to restrict imports of Ukranian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds in order to allow those countries to support their respective domestic industries (see 2305030012). The commission added that the scope of these measures was dropped from 17 to six tariff lines for these four products, though the measures still must remain in place given the "serious logistical bottlenecks and limited grain storage capacity ahead of the harvest season experienced in five Member States."
The Bank of Lithuania found that electronic money platform Transactive Systems UAB "seriously and systematically infringed anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing" requirements, following an investigation. As a result, the bank fined the institution over $300,000 and revoked its license to provide financial services. The bank said Transactive System's main infringements were a failure to "properly identify clients, their representatives and beneficiaries," the enabling the opening of anonymous virtual accounts and a failure to ensure "adequate monitoring of business relationships and transactions." The bank added that the platform failed to make sure that international financial sanctions and restrictive measures were properly implemented.
Lithuanian authorities submitted evidence against nine Lithuanian companies showing the businesses violated EU sanctions by declaring that Russian and Belarusian imports of plywood, pellets and other timber products were from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project recently reported. The evidence resulted from an OCCRP investigation concluded in December 2022, which led to a separate investigation from the Lithuanian State Consumer Rights Protection Authority. OCCRP expects that the number of companies accused of evading sanctions will increase since many of them are "evading SCRPA's request to provide information about their activities."
The U.K. added one name to its Somalia sanctions list and amended two others under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said. OFSI added Abdullahi Osman Mohamed Caddow to its Somalia list and revised the listings for Russian businessmen Vladimir Nikolaevich Lepin and Dmitry Vladimirovich Konov.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published a blog post with guidance on how to navigate its trust services sanctions (see 2303220021), covering where the sanctions apply, key exceptions, OFSI's enforcement powers and licensing. Under the key exceptions guidance, OFSI said sanctions do not apply for acts "for the purposes of complying with the prohibitions and obligations of an asset freeze," and for trust services "provided in respect of registered pension schemes, where these services are not provided primarily to, or for the benefit of, a designated person" or persons connected with Russia.