The EU General Court issued a series of four opinions June 7 rejecting applications for delisting from sanctioned Belarusian individuals. The court said the European Council permissibly gave sufficient reasons to list the individuals and said the sanctions were not disproportionate. The individuals are Belarusian businessman Aleksandr Vasilevich Shakutin and university officials Aliaksandr Bakhanovich, Siarhei Rubnikovich and Siarhei Skryba.
The process for removing names from Canadian sanctions lists lacks transparency, Dentons said in a June client alert. The firm said Global Affairs Canada doesn’t “provide any material or information providing support for the decision to list an individual or entity,” and so when a person or entity seeks a delisting, the party has “no access to the reasons” Canada “relied on in including the person or entity on a sanctions list.”
Recent U.S. sanctions against an Iranian procurement network and drug traffickers in Mexico signal a trend within the Biden administration toward using sanctions to target “transnational organized crime,” Herbert Smith said in a June client alert. The firm suggested that companies should make sure their anti-money laundering and “know your customer” procedures are incorporated as “an integral part of sanctions compliance” due to the U.S.'s “increasing sanctions focus on transnational crime and money laundering.”
Canada announced a new set of Russia-related sanctions June 10, designating 24 people and 17 entities connected to Moscow’s “theft of Ukrainian cultural objects.” The sanctioned people include employees at Ukrainian museums who collaborate with Russia, and the sanctioned entities include newly created organizations in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, such as the “so-called ministries of education and culture.” Canada also sanctioned people and entities with ties to Ukrainian-based private military companies that are fighting for Russia.
The Federal Maritime Commission this week released a revised version of its proposed rule on unreasonable carrier conduct to amend and add to a rulemaking that was widely criticized by shippers and lawmakers last year (see 2301250032, 2211090026 and 2210280051). The new supplemental proposed rule offers new definitions, clarifications, edits and additions that the FMC hopes will allow it to better implement a congressional mandate to address ocean carriers that refuse vessel space to shippers.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 43 entities to the Entity List this week, including companies conducting various activities that either support China’s military or allow the government to “carry out human rights abuses.” Other entities were added for supporting Pakistan’s ballistic missile program or other weapons capabilities.
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.
Ministers of Justice in the EU agreed to the European Council's position on proposed minimum rules to trace, freeze and confiscate criminal assets, the council announced, paving the way for talks with the European Parliament on a final text. The rules cover a broad array of crimes, including sanctions violations. The council said people profiting from conducting business with designated parties "will see their yields being seized the same way as traffickers in human beings or drug cartels." The law could require member states to ensure they have appropriate staff and financial and technological resources to trace, seize and manage the assets.
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.
Countries in the Five Eyes Alliance, plus Japan, have issued a joint declaration on non-market practices and trade related economic coercion that they say "undermine the functioning of and confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system by distorting trade, investment, and competition and harming relations between countries."