OFSI updates its guidance on the imposition of monetary penalties

19 March, 2021
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) published an updated version of its “Monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions – guidance”. In this briefing, we have set out some of the key changes to the Guidance, in particular as regards: (i) the stated scope of OFSI’s jurisdiction; (ii) voluntary disclosure, and the impact of legal professional privilege on disclosures to OFSI; (iii) OFSI’s discretion in assessing the seriousness of cases; and overall, (iv) a potentially more aggressive approach to penalties. Read more

New year, new UK sanctions regime

11 January, 2021
Upon the end of the Brexit transition period at 11pm on 31 December 2020, the UK ceased to implement EU sanctions. UK sanctions are now in force under the UK’s domestic sanctions regime, the framework for which is contained in the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act 2018 (“SAMLA”). The UK has introduced regulations under SAMLA which implement UK versions of the EU sanctions regimes that were in force pre-Brexit, although the new UK sanctions are not identical to the EU sanctions in all respects. Read more

EU introduces global human rights sanctions regime

10 December, 2020
On 7 December 2020, the Council of the EU announced the introduction of a new global human rights sanctions regime, as part the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024. The new regime introduces a framework to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on individuals and entities identified as responsible for, involved in or associated with, serious human rights violations and abuses worldwide. Read more

Corporate Crime update – November 2020

30 November, 2020
Welcome to the November 2020 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Our update now covers a number of jurisdictions. Read more

US Sanctions and the right of borrowers to withhold repayment: Commercial Court signals return to orthodoxy

23 November, 2020
The Commercial Court has granted summary judgment in favour of a bank seeking to recover payments under Credit Agreements entered into with the Venezuelan state-owned oil and gas company, Petroleos De Venezuela SA (PDVSA), finding that the defaulting borrower had no real prospect of successfully defending the claims on the basis of certain US Sanctions imposed on Venezuela which post-dated the execution of the Credit Agreements. Read more

OFSI releases its third Annual Review for 2019-2020

16 October, 2020
On 9 October 2020, HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published its latest Annual Review for the 2019-20 financial year. The publication marks the third report which OFSI have published and provides an overview of the work undertaken by OFSI in the financial year 2019-20 (April 2019 to March 2020). It also looks ahead to sanctions implementation in the future with a particular focus, this year, on how sanctions will be enforced at the end of the Brexit transition period. Points which may be of particular interest to readers are set out below. Read more

HSF Launches New Sanctions Blog

08 October, 2020
Herbert Smith Freehills' US Sanctions team has recently launched a new Sanctions blog. The blog will provide commentary on economic sanctions and export control issues, with a focus on US laws, and will be of particular interest to in-house counsel and compliance personnel in both US and non-US companies. Read more