On 30 September the UK announced a series of significant additional sanctions in response to Russia’s illegal annexations in Ukraine following internationally condemned sham referendums. The latest sanctions will prohibit the provision of IT consultancy, architecture, engineering, advertising, auditing and certain transactional legal advisory services by UK persons or entities to Russia, a move that will have a considerable impact on UK professional services firms ..read more

On 12 July 2022, the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) and various other UK government agencies issued a red alert, in conjunction with the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT), setting out various common evasion tactics and techniques the agencies suspect certain persons designated under the UK’s financial sanctions regime use with the help of “UK enablers ..read more

On 10 November, the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published its annual review for the period April 2021 to August 2022, with a focus on the effect of sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February. OFSI describes its response to the invasion as “unprecedented”, having put in place “the most stringent financial sanctions in history ..read more

The United Kingdom and United States announced in a joint statement on 17 October a new strategy to cooperate and collaborate further on economic sanctions implementation and enforcement ..read more

The UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) announced on 28 June that it imposed a £15,000 penalty on UK company Tracerco Limited for breaching financial sanctions. Tracerco was found to have made funds available for the benefit of a designated person in breach of financial sanctions on Syria. Tracerco provides measuring products and services to the oil and gas industry and made two payments totaling £2,956.43 to designated entity Syrian Arab Airlines (SAA) between May 2017 and August 2018 for flights to take an employee home. Tracerco booked the flights through a United Arab Em ..read more

Co-authored by London Associate Tina Kang. The UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) announced on 27 September that it imposed a £30,000 penalty on UK company Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Competition Ltd (HK Wine & Spirits) for breaching UK financial sanctions regulations. This is the second monetary penalty OFSI imposed this year, following a £15,000 fine against Tracerco Limited in June ..read more

From 19 July 2022, it is a violation of UK financial sanctions for any person who knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that they are carrying out, directly or indirectly, certain investment activity in Russia. These prohibitions follow the UK Government’s 6 April 2022 announcement of its intention to introduce an outright ban on all new outward investment in Russia ..read more

As anticipated, the Economic Crime Bill was passed and became the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 on 14 March 2022. Overseas entities, their beneficial owners and officers may take steps now to consider whether they are required to make an application for registration. Click here to read the full GT Alert ..read more