On 19 October 2021, the EU Commission published its 2022 Work Programme, which sets out the key goals that the EU Commission hopes to achieve in 2022. Chief amongst these is a desire to make “A Europe Fit for the Digital Age”, with a key proposal to achieve this being a possible “European Chips Act”. In the Programme, the EU Commission has stated that it will publish a proposal for a European Chips Act in the first half of 2022.
On 14 October 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published its Annual Review, providing an overview of OFSI’s activities in the financial year April 2020 to March 2021. In 2020-2021, OFSI considered 132 reports of potential financial sanctions breaches, a slight decrease from 140 in 2019-2020. However, the number of cases considered generally remains on an upwards trajectory from the 99 potential financial sanctions breaches considered in 2018 to 2019.
Following this year’s Baker McKenzie Annual Compliance Conference, we are pleased to invite you to our Wrap Up Session on November 3 at 3.00 – 4.30 GMT. The session aims to bring together the key learnings, take-aways and recommendations from the conference. Representatives will attend from the five key compliance areas covered in the conference: antibribery and corruption, antitrust compliance, customs, supply chain, ESG compliance, export controls and sanctions.
Baker McKenzie are pleased to invite you to their Global Year-End Review of Import/Export/Trade Compliance Developments on 16, 17, and 18 November. International trade compliance lawyers will discuss and examine major global legislative, judicial and administrative activities and trends in export controls, trade sanctions, customs compliance, and import requirements.
We are pleased to invite you to our annual virtual Global Year-End Review of Import/Export/Trade Compliance Developments. Our international trade compliance lawyers from around the world will review the major global legislative, judicial and administrative activities and trends in export controls, trade sanctions, customs compliance, and import requirements which will be 16-18 November 2021.
On 6 September 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published its 2021 frozen asset reporting notice. The notice is a reminder that all persons that hold or control funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held, or controlled by a designated person must provide a report to OFSI with the details of these assets by 15 October 2021. This is part of HM Treasury’s annual review of frozen assets to update its records and to capture any changes during the reporting period.
On 20 July 2021, the UK Government announced that the National Security and Investment Act will enter into full force on 4 January 2022. The NSI Act creates a new, self-standing UK investment screening regime on national security grounds, comparable to CFIUS in the US.
The Recast Dual-Use Regulation published as Regulation 2021/821 entered into force on 9 September 2021. EU producers of dual-use goods now face new export control rules, which we have analyzed in further detail in a recent post. For more detail on the Regulation, please contact Alex Phillips to receive our full client alert and analysis.
On 20 August 2021, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated the UK Chemical Weapons financial sanctions regime to include seven Russian nationals linked to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader. Listed below, the individuals are subject to an freezing of assets and economic resources.
On 5 August 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) imposed a GBP 50,000 penalty on TransferGo Limited (“TransferGo“), a UK FinTech company, for breaching UK sanctions when it issued instructions to make payments to accounts held at the Russian National Commercial Bank (“RNCB“), a designated party.