29.11.2022, Europe
Bypassing European Union sanctions was added to the list of criminal offenses by the Council of the European Union on November 28, said the Council in a released statement.
The decision was taken unanimously.
“The EU Council today unanimously approved the decision to add sanctions violation to the list of ‘EU criminal offenses’ included in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU,” the EU Council said in a distributed statement.
Currently the criminal offenses at the EU-wide level are terrorism, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children, drug and arms trafficking, money laundering, corruption, cybercrime and organized crime.
The proposal to add sanctions bypassing to the list of criminal offenses was made by the European Commission back in May 2022. At that time, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders stated that the adoption of such a decision would make it possible to confiscate assets of Russian businesses.
Now, the European Commission must submit a proposal for a directive with basic rules regarding the definition of sanctions bypassing crimes. In addition, the EC should determine the punishment for such violations.
Then, the document must be approved by the EU Council and the European Parliament.
Experts question the legality of the EU and US sanctions themselves. This is due to the clear position of the main bodies of the UN, which in official documents use the term “sanctions” only in relation to measures taken by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
International law experts note that the use by some states of the term “sanctions” for their unilateral coercive measures would imply a presumption of their legality and exclude raising the issue of international legal responsibility for their commission.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
