The Shipowner’s Club informs that in light of the latest developments regarding the ongoing war, the United Kingdom and the United States have introduced further sanction to Russia, following the illegal invasion of Ukraine.
UK introduces further sanctions
On 30 March 2022, the UK government announced legislation which prohibits maintenance and technical services on aircraft or ships belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarchs or their businesses.
The UK regulations state that a person must not directly or indirectly provide to, or for the benefit of, a designated person technical assistance relating to an aircraft, or a ship.
“Technical assistance” is defined in the relevant chapter of the regulation as follows:
“Technical assistance”, in relation to goods or technology, means:
- technical support relating to the repair, development, production, assembly, testing, use or maintenance of the goods or technology, or
- any other technical service relating to the goods or technology;”
According to the Shipowner’s Club, subject to guidance from OFSI, the definition is very much tied to the goods and technology. However, it is the Club’s view only, in relation to the ship restrictions that it appears to be aimed at ship repair facilities and others who provide repair and maintenance services to Russian vessels. In light of the above, Members are advised to seek their own legal advice on the specific points mentioned herein, this information is provided as guidance only.
As informed, members are further advised to carry out enhanced checks to determine to whom, or for whose benefit, the provision of technical assistance related to ships is being given.
US Sanctions
On March 31, 2022 the US Treasury Secretary issued a Determination which extends the application of Section l(a)(i) of Executive Order (E.O.) 14024 to the aerospace, electronics and marine sectors of the Russian economy.
The new Determination contains a potentially broad designation authority. The Executive Order in question already authorized the US Treasury Department to designate a person who operates in the:
- technology or
- defense sectors of the Russian economy
…and allowed US Treasury to add new sectors at its discretion.
This was expanded in February 2022 to capture the “financial” sector, which has been the basis of the many Russian bank designations.
With this new Determination, the Treasury has added three additional sectors to that list, including marine. This allows for sanctions to be applied to any person who it is determined “operates or has operated in [the marine] sector[s].”
In addition, the European Commission proposed new sanctions against Russia, including a ban on buying Russian coal and on Russian ships entering EU ports, while it is also working on banning oil imports too.
It should be recalled that the economic sanctions targeting Russia continue to evolve and escalate with many being coordinated among the EU, UK, US, and their allies including sanctions against President Putin and the Central Bank of Russia. Standard Club’s experts Mrs. Ursula O’Donnell and Mrs. Gina Venezia provide a summary of some of the recent actions.
In the meantime, NATO and EU allies continue to make additions to the designated entities lists so all the members can ensure that they carry out careful examination and inspections using the updated lists.
