An Update on Haiti Sanctions

BY:

Gail Leeson
17 January 2024

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The ECJU has released an update to the regulations that support UK sanctions on the territory of Haiti. 

The Regulation 


As required by Section 43 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (‘the Sanctions Act’), the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has provided guidance to assist in the implementation of and compliance with The Haiti (Sanctions) Regulations 2022 (the ‘Regulations’), as amended from time to time. 


The following regulatory instruments make the amendments to this instrument. Until a consolidated version of the regulation becomes available on legislation.gov.uk, these instruments should be read alongside the original regulatory instrument (above): 


 

As required by the Sanctions Act, the document contains guidance on the prohibitions and requirements imposed by the Regulations, providing essential advice on best practices for complying with the prohibitions and requirements, enforcing them, and guiding on the circumstances where these prohibitions do not apply. 


The updated sanctions impact areas that include, but are not limited to, Finance, Trade, Maritime Enforcement, Immigration, and Sanctioned Persons. 


The document is intended to be read alongside more detailed sanctions guidance published by departments, including the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), Home Office and HM Treasury through the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), and there are links within the published document to those key sources of sanctions guidance. 


The guidance on the published page is designed to give an overview of the prohibitions and requirements in the Regulations and, where appropriate, direct readers to further detailed published guidance. 


This guidance is confirmed as current as of the publication date (28th December 2023.)   

The Onus of Compliance is on the UK persons interacting with Haiti 


The UK Authorities undertake the regular maintenance of published guidance on Sanctions. However, it will be necessary for those UK persons impacted by the updated regulations to ensure that they keep up to date with the compliance restrictions on any affected interaction with Haiti, as the onus is on UK persons to do so. 


A link to the guidance is below, with further links within the document. 


If there is any doubt about any of the comprehensive impacts of the updated sanctions on interaction with Haiti, or if the guidance is unclear, the ECJU should be contacted directly. Contact details are below: 


Haiti sanctions guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 


If you are interested in exploring this topic further, you might find it worthwhile to consider the training courses and live clinics offered by Strong & Herd LLP:

Focus On: Embargoes, Sanctions and End-Use Controls

This half-day session examines why companies and employees should be aware of embargoes and sanctions. Using the UK regulations as the primary guide, it will review the growth in sanctions on Russia, as well as current financial sanctions in place managed by OFSI. It concentrates mainly on the export of goods and includes a look at end-use, end-user and transit controls. Violating these controls can result in fines, reputation loss, and criminal charges.

Focus On: Controlling Technology & Intangible Transfers

Even intangible transmission of controlled items needs export licences. The licensing regulations cover technology, software, and goods; the main dference is that the former can be sent to another country intangibly, e.g. by email, via a VPN, or downloaded from a website. This session will review the type of licences available, how to use them and maintain a technology log for audit purposes. It also covers the use of technology by employees while working overseas.




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