EU Council publishes draft on bloc-wide sanctions enforcement measures and penalties
The Council of the European Union says it has settled on its negotiating position for an EU law to align criminal offences and penalties for violations of EU sanctions. The Council said that once the draft legislation is adopted, it will be ‘an important tool to ensure that violating sanctions does not pay off.’
The draft law, which is focused on ‘dissuasive penalties’ and ‘stricter enforcement,’ defines ‘the conduct member states will need to criminalise. Actions which member states will label as criminal offences include: helping persons subject to Union restrictive measures to bypass an EU travel ban, trading sanctioned goods and running transactions with states or entities which are hit by EU restrictive measures,’ the Council said.
According to the Council, ‘Member states will also have to update their national laws so that aggravating circumstances are taken into account when determining the penalty. An aggravating circumstance for instance would be that the offence is committed in the framework of a criminal organisation or by a public official.’
It said that EU Member States will be ‘required to guarantee cooperation and coordination between its various law enforcement and judicial authorities. Cooperation on criminal investigations into sanction violation will also happen at European level – between member states, the Commission and EU agencies such as Europol or the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.’
With the agreement in place, the Council will move ahead negotiations with the European Parliament to reach a common position on the draft law.
‘This new law will make it easier to investigate, prosecute and punish the breaking of sanction measures throughout the EU,’ said Gunnar Strömmer, the Swedish minister of justice.
