The U.K.'s Solicitors Regulation Authority on July 24 released a sectoral risk assessment covering anti-money laundering and terrorist financing, according to the EU Sanctions blog. The document covers sanctions risk factors and says that companies must conduct an assessment of their proliferation financing risk exposure, the blog noted. The SRA added that firms "may be of a greater risk where they have exposure to countries" that are subject to U.N. sanctions; are suspected of using or seeking to acquire nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological weapons; or share a "porous border with such countries." The document also covers observations from the agency's supervision work, higher-risk jurisdictions, external support, risks in the legal sector and risk factors.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent sanctions moves made by bloc: one under its Syria restrictions regime and the other related to restrictions concerning cyberattacks against the EU.
Sayari, a firm that sells risk intelligence to companies with international trade compliance needs, demonstrated how its ability to find and analyze data can help an importer of laminates, flooring or timber evaluate the risk that the wood was harvested illegally in Brazil.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on July 27 extended through Aug. 14, 2025, the General License under its Russia sanctions regime to allow payments to a sanctioned bank for making energy available for use in Mongolia. The license covers Credit Bank of Moscow, Gazprombank, Sberbank and Rosbank PJSC.
The EU General Court in a pair of July 26 orders annulled the sanctions acts listing Viktor Pshonka, a former Ukrainian prosecutor general, and his son, Artem, a former Ukrainian lawmaker, according to an unofficial translation. The elder Pshonka was originally sanctioned in 2014 for embezzling Ukrainian public funds, according to the EU Sanctions blog. The blog noted that the court said the European Council failed to show that the Pshonkas' rights to judicial protection were respected by Ukrainian authorities during criminal proceedings on which the council relied.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with the bloc's recent sanctions decision concerning Libya, the European Council announced. On July 10, the council required member states to take the necessary steps to facilitate the disposal of arms and related material seized by the EUNAVFOR MED IRINI naval mission on the high seas. The council also barred vessels flying a third-country flag, bound to or from Libya, from carrying arms and other goods covered by the EU Common Military List to or from Libya. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision.
The U.K. High Court of Justice Administrative Court recently dismissed an application from Russian businessman Sergei Naumenko and companies Dalston Projects and Prism Maritime, legal owners of the Phi superyacht, seeking to regain control of the vessel. The British secretary of state for transport in March 2022 seized the yacht under its Russia sanctions regime.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on July 26 updated its general guidance on financial sanctions to update the section on the refusal of a license. See page 37 of the guidance for the updated language.
The U.K. amended two entries under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list in a July 25 notice. The listings of Faysal Ahmad Bin Ali Al-Zahrani, ISIL's lead oil and gas division official, and Yazid Sufaat, founding member of Jemaah Islamiyah, were updated. Al-Zahrani's listing was changed to reflect that he is reportedly deceased; Sufaat's was changed to say he completed detention Nov. 20, 2019, and then served a two-year restricted residence order in Malaysia until Nov. 21, 2021. The measures follow similar actions by the U.N. Security Council this week (see 2307240016).
The EU and Singapore launched talks on a digital trade agreement, the EU's Directorate-General for Trade said in a July 20 statement. The deal will seek to "provide legal certainty for end-to-end digital trade and enhance protection for our people and companies in digital transactions," the release said, building on the EU-Singapore Digital Partnership and Digital Trade Principles reached at the start of the year.