In Financier Worldwide, Partner Paul Feldberg, Associate Menelaos Karampetsos Explore Evolving Sanctions Enforcement Landscape in UK, EU

Partner Paul Feldberg and associate Menelaos Karampetsos co-wrote an article about the evolving enforcement landscape of U.K. and EU sanctions against Russia since 2022 for the May issue of Financier Worldwide magazine.

The EU and U.K. both made statements in February about the importance of sanctions enforcement and the need to close sanctions and trade control loopholes to ensure the pressure being applied to Russia is effective.

“It is expected that heightened rhetoric around enforcement both in the U.K. and the EU by state authorities will result in an uptick in enforcement actions in 2024,” they wrote. “It is arguable that results may be indirect as well – media reports stated that over 100 U.K. companies voluntarily disclosed sanctions breaches in order to mitigate government penalties. As new statutory powers have come into force across the U.K. and the EU, authorities will want to demonstrate their willingness to utilise their new powers.”

The article notes that after two years and several sanctions packages, both the U.K. and EU authorities are under pressure to show that those who breach sanctions will pay the price. They note that trade sanctions are likely to be an area of particular focus for enforcement authorities, given the objective of depriving Russia of the tools and technology necessary to continue its war efforts.

“The U.K. and EU will be keen to deter operators from undermining the effectiveness of sanctions, so it is also very likely that prosecutions against those that circumvent sanctions will increase,” they concluded. “As sanctions and their deployment as a foreign policy tool are here to stay, their enforcement will take an increasingly prominent role in the remainder of 2024.”

Read the full article here.