Sanctions against Russia – February 24, 2022/2025

The sanctions cover an incredible number of topics such as doing business in certain occupied territories and doing business with vessels of the so-called 'shadow fleet'. So-called 'dual-use goods' are also widely covered by the current sanctions against Russia. The idea behind this is that so-called dual-use goods can be used for both civil and military purposes. The annex to the Dual-use Regulation has ten different categories that relate to the most diverse technical properties for certain products, such as computers, sensors, lasers or vessels.

Over the past three years, European sanctions have been used extensively as a means of exerting political pressure on Russia in the war against Ukraine. It seems logical to consider sanctions against influential individuals, or sanctions against the import of oil and gas, the export of weapons or sanctions against financial institutions.

However, the sanctions against Russia have been deployed much more broadly. One of the sanctions' goals is to prevent the export of goods to Russia that could strengthen its industrial earning capacity. Various flowers, plants, bulbs, tubers and rhizomes also fall under the scope of the sanctions.

In short, international sanctions often involve complex rules. The sanctions against Russia are no exception. It then becomes even more difficult to assess whether sanctions are being circumvented via Russia's neighboring countries.

These types of sanctions are enforced under the Sanctions Act of 1977 and the Economic Offenses Act. Until a few years ago, criminal prosecutions were actually a rarity. These types of cases simply had little priority. That is really different nowadays. Customs has already carried out many thousands of inspections, and the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) and the Public Prosecution Service have already opened dozens of criminal investigations into individuals and companies, some of which also end in long prison sentences or heavy fines.

In addition, the EU's stance has changed; Brussels is tightening its grip with a view to the effectiveness of the sanctions. In the latest sanctions packages in particular, rules have been adopted that are groundbreaking and designed to prevent circumvention of the EU's restrictive measures, such as the mandatory “no re-export to Russia” clause in contracts, the obligation of EU companies to make every effort to ensure that legal entities established outside the EU that they own or control do not participate in activities that undermine the sanctions regulation, and notification requirements.

Now, three years after the start of the war in Ukraine, the 16th package of sanctions has been adopted and there seems to be no end in sight to these regulations. If you would like to know what the latest sanctions could mean for your business or if you would like to know if you are still compliant with the current regulations, please contact Jikke Biermasz or Hugo van Aardenne.