On 25 March 2021, the UK Government announced further measures targeting the Myanmar regime, adding Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Ltd (MEHL) to the Global Human Rights financial sanctions regime for its alleged involvement in human rights violations against the Rohingya. MEHL has been added to the UK Sanctions List and to the Office of Financial…

On 1 April 2021, the UK government announced additional measures targeting the Myanmar regime’s economic interests. Further to the 25 March 2021 announcement targeting Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL), the UK has added Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) to its Global Human Rights sanctions regime. The UK cited credible evidence that MEC had contributed funds to…

The EU is reportedly set to approve its first round of sanctions against officials responsible for the military coup in Myanmar on 22 March 2021. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed this was on the agenda at the next meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council whilst addressing the…

In an 18 March 2021 statement released by the German Foreign Ministry, the Group of Seven (G7) nations have announced that they remain fully committed to the implementation of sanctions on Russia over the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The group’s Foreign Ministers also reaffirmed their unwavering support for and…

On 22 March 2021, the UK Government added four individuals and one entity to the Global Human Rights financial sanctions regime, in relation to alleged human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang, China. Four Chinese government officials and a Xinjiang security body have been added to the UK sanctions list and to the…

The UK Department for International Trade has recently published guidance on how the UK will transpose and implement the EU Blocking Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) 2271/96) post-Brexit. The EU Blocking Regulation seeks to counter the extra-territorial impact of certain US sanctions (the “proscribed US sanctions”), currently in respect of Iran…

The Department for International Trade has revealed in a notice to exporters that HMRC has received settlements totalling £700,368.01 for export control violations between March and September 2020. Fines of up to £211,250 were issued to exporters across 19 settlement actions for unlicensed exports of dual use goods, military goods and related…

The EU announced last week that the UK would be added to its list of safe countries to export ‘dual-use items’. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the UK is no longer a Member State of the EU since 31 January 2020 and the EU law will cease to…

On 16 October 2020, the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) published Notice to Exporters 2020/14 to remind relevant exporters to sign up for the EU dual-use open general export licence (OGEL) before the end of the Brexit Transition Period. This OGEL will be required to export dual-use items from the UK to any EU…

On 9 October 2020, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published its Annual Review, providing an overview of OFSI’s activities in the financial year April 2019 to March 2020. A copy of the Annual Review is available here. In addition, OFSI has reminded UK businesses that they must report any frozen…