The Council of the European Union unanimously approved the inclusion of violations of restrictive measures (sanctions) in the list of crimes against the European Union, according to the website of the legislative body.
“The EU has adopted a number of restrictive measures in the context of Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, and extremely it is important that these measures are implemented in full,” reads document.
Currently, EU Member States have different definitions of what constitutes a breach of restrictive measures and what penalties should be applied in the event of a breach. According to European Council officials, this could lead to varying degrees of sanctions and the risk of circumvention of these measures, potentially allowing those under sanctions to continue to access their assets and support the regimes targeted by the EU measures.
The inclusion of violations of restrictive measures in the list of “EU crimes” is the first of two steps aimed at ensuring the same degree of application of sanctions throughout the EU and preventing attempts to circumvent or violate EU measures.
The European Commission will submit a proposal in the near future under a directive containing minimum rules regarding the definition of criminal offenses and penalties for violation of EU restrictive measures. This draft directive is then to be discussed and adopted by the Council and the European Parliament.
