This news release is issued to publicise an amendment to the Russia Sanctions regime which comes into force on 6 September 2024.
The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which have effect in the Island, are amended to provide clarity in relation to the knowledge a person must have before the prohibition on the provision of certain legal advisory services applies.
This extension to the exceptions of prohibition is to ensure that advice on compliance with the law and related advice is not caught by the prohibition. Therefore, this amendment will allow legitimate provision of legal advisory services on non-UK sanctions compliance under certain circumstances. These changes puts beyond doubt that legal advice in relation to compliance with global sanctions and criminal legislation is permitted. As a consequence, the definition of legal advisory services has also been amended.
The regulations that impose these changes can be found on the UK's Legislation website.
The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 have effect in the Isle of Man by the Sanctions (Implementation of UK Sanctions) Regulations 2024 ('the Regulations'), which are made under the Sanctions Act 2024. This regime imposes financial, trade, aircraft, shipping and immigration sanctions for the purposes of encouraging Russia to cease actions which destabilise Ukraine, or undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine.
Individuals and entities who are designated under this regime are included on the UK sanctions list.
Types of sanctions applicable under this regime:
- Asset freeze
- Other financial and investment restrictions
- Trade
- Immigration
- Aircraft
- Ships
What you must do
If you suspect a person or entity is a match to a person or entity included in the UK Sanctions List, and you hold or otherwise deal with funds or economic resources of that person:
- You must freeze the assets immediately
- You must review the information you hold for that person against the UK Sanctions List to ensure you do not have a false positive identification
- Do not deal with those assets or make them available to, or for the benefit of the designated person unless:
- You have a legal exemption
- You have a licence
- You must report the frozen assets to the FIU
If you have a suspicion or knowledge that there has been a breach of sanctions law, or any attempted transactions that you have blocked, report your suspicions to the FIU.
Failure to comply with financial and trade sanctions legislation or to attempting to circumvent its provisions is a criminal offence.
Where a relevant institution has already reported details of accounts, other funds or economic resources held frozen for the designated person, you are not required to report these details again.
Note: determining if a customer is on the UK Sanctions List includes whether any corporate entity is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a person on the UK Sanctions List.
Further guidance on false positives and delistings and what to do can be found in the Financial Sanctions General Guidance page.
Further information
Further details on the UN measures in respect of Russia sanctions can be found on the relevant UN Sanctions Committee webpage.
Further information on the sanctions regime related to Russia and other sanctions related guidance can be found on the Sanctions and Export Control website on the Sanctions Guidance page.
Contact details for enquiries
If you require any further information or guidance, please contact the Sanctions Team on:
Telephone: +44 1624 648109
Email: sanctions@gov.im
Please note: We are unable to provide legal advice. You may need to seek independent legal advice.
