On 24 February 2025, the EU adopted the 16th sanctions package against Russia. On the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU is thus maintaining its sanctions policy with the aim of further increasing pressure on Russia. The new EU sanctions package contains a large number of tightening measures concerning Regulation (EU) 269/2014 and Regulation (EU) 833/2014 against Russia.
As part of the implementation of Directive (EU) 2024/1226 on the harmonization of criminal law on penalties (EU Directive on Criminal Sanctions), significant amendments and additions to Sections 18 and 19 of the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act (AWG) will soon be made and will lead to tighter sanctions for offences and administrative offences …
Already in June this year, the European Union introduced an obligation for EU economic operators to take further measures to avoid the circumvention of export controls and sanctions against Russia and Belarus in connection with so-called Common High Priority Items (“CHP items”).
Long expected, the EU Commission published explanations on the so-called best-efforts obligation in Article 8a of Regulation (EU) 833/2014 at the end of November and supplemented its FAQs on the EU sanctions against Russia accordingly. The aim is to provide the affected EU …
