Belarus: EU adopts new round of sanctions

Introduction

Due to ongoing human rights violations, European Union imposes further sanctions in response to involvement in Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, following up on Belarus: EU adopts new round of sanctions.

According to Josep Borrell, the European Parliament today imposed sanctions on another 38 individuals and three entities. It also extended export bans on firearms, aviation and space industries. “We adopted new sanctions in response to the ongoing systematic, widespread and serious human rights violations of Lukashenko’s illegitimate regime and brutal repression against all segments of Belarusian society. Today we are also taking further measures against the Belarusian regime as an accomplice in Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine. We stand with the Belarusian people in their quest for peace and democracy.”

The entire European Union press release can be found in the press statement.

Entities

In all, the European Union added 38 individuals and 3 entities to their denied-party list.

The entities are as follows;

• Belneftekhim – Belarusian state-owned oil and chemical company
• Byelorussian Steel Works
• Minsk Electrotechnical Plant Named After V.I. Kozlov

With these parties, the largest parties in Belarus were added in the fields of oil, metallurgical processing and electrical machinery. It is important to note that these names refer to the umbrella organization. This includes many companies; only through UBO due diligence can you verify this.

Individuals include judges, army officials, mayors and propagandists (active on state channels).

A total of 233 individuals and 37 entities are now subject to restrictive measures.

Export Ban

Furthermore, restrictive measures on exports to Belarus are part of the new sanctions package. This applies to goods and technology suitable for use in the aerospace industry. These include drones and aircraft engines.

There are also further restrictive measures on arms and dual-use products.

The biggest impact for business, however, will be technological limitation. These are further limitation on semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, production and test equipment, cameras and optical components.

Based on the Customs Code, the latter category of products fall under chapters 8471, 8486, 8517, 8525, 8526, 8532, 8534, 8536, 8541, 8542, 8543, 8548, 9013, 9014 and 9030.

For all information to check your any existing business with Belarus, please see the latest regulation/regulation and decision/decision.

Status of sanctions Belarus

Since October 2020, the European Union has imposed increasingly far-reaching restrictions, initially based on that year’s presidential election. However, restrictions have been in place since August 2004.

The current sanctions are a response where the EU condemns in the strongest possible way Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Also, the human rights situation must be restored and related sanctions will continue to apply until then.

In terms of developments, this year’s highlights are:

• Extension of previous restrictions by 1 year (Feb. 27, 2023)
• New sanctions (Aug. 3) as explained above

For more information on the previous and latest sanctions with timeline, explanation and all relevant information, please visit this website.

If you would like more information about the sanctions regarding Russia and Belarus, and what this means for you, please take Contact us.