Swiss federal council expands restrictive measures in view of the situation in Ukraine

Posted on March 9th, 2015 by Michael O'Kane on europeansanctions.com

On 6 March 2015, Switzerland's Federal Council expanded the scope of its measures designed to prevent the circumvention of international sanctions in view of the situation in Ukraine (see previous blogs here and here). It also added 28 further persons and entities who have had asset freezes and travel restrictions imposed on them by the EU to its own sanctions listings.

Applying to the Crimea and Sevastopol, the new measures prohibit all foreign investment, ban the export of key goods, and ban the provision of services related to investment, tourism, and certain other economic sectors to them.

In addition, it will be disallowed for financial intermediaries to enter into business relationships with the 28 newly listed individuals and entities and those involved in any existing business dealing with a listed party will be required to report that relationship.

In a statement, the Federal Council stressed that "Swiss territory may not be misused to circumvent EU sanctions", adding that it was "continuing to monitor the situation in Ukraine closely and reserves the right to introduce further measures".

End notes

This article first appeared on European Sanctions Law & Practice (http://europeansanctions.com/), a blog by Maya Lester (+44 20 7379 3550, maya.lester@brickcourt.co.uk), a barrister at Brick Court Chambers, and Michael O'Kane (+44 (0) 20 7822 7777 mokane@petersandpeters.com), head of Business Crime at Peters & Peters.