EU unifies punishments for evasion of sanctions against Russia: European Parliament directive

The European Parliament adopted a directive on the harmonization of the application of EU sanctions between member states. The document, which prescribes uniform wording of violations and uniform punishments for all countries, was supported by 543 MEPs, 45 were against, and 27 abstained.

"While sanctions are adopted at the EU level, enforcement relies on member states, amongst which definitions of sanction violation and associated penalties vary," the website of the European Parliament reads.

After the directive enters into force, individuals will be subject to the same penalty of up to five years in prison if their actions involve assets worth over 100,000 euros. Various measures are provided for companies, including monetary and non-monetary ones (for example, cancellation of permits, deprivation of the right to benefits, liquidation by judicial procedure, fines, etc.).

The following will be considered a violation of sanctions:

→ provision of funds or economic resources at the disposal or for the benefit of a sanctioned person or organization;
→ failure to freeze money or economic resources of a sanctioned person or organization;
→ granting a sanctioned person permission to enter or pass through transit;
→ trade in goods or services, import, export, sale, purchase, transfer, transit or transportation of which is prohibited or restricted by sanctions, as well as the provision of brokerage or other services related to such goods;
→ provision of financial services or performance of financial activities that are prohibited or restricted by sanctions;
→ other ways of circumventing the sanctions regime (for example, by hiding the beneficiaries).

The directive will enter into force after it is officially approved by the Council of the European Union and published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member states will have one year to implement its provisions into national legislation.

The European Union has already introduced 13 packages of sanctions against Russia for full-scale aggression against Ukraine. In total, the sanction list of the European Union now includes more than 2,000 individuals and legal entities.