Ukraine became a war zone on NATO's eastern border within hours of Russia's attack. With great dismay, the world perceives this war and sanctions against Russia follow, which are intended to express political condemnation of the Russian attack and reduce the resulting human suffering. In addition to the European Union, the United States of America, among others, has already adopted sanctions against Russia on a significant scale. The resulting sanctions therefore also have an impact on European companies, which we would like to briefly describe below.

Currently, the European Union has adopted a package of sanctions against Russia, which is intended to condemn and sanction Russian actions.

An essential part of this package are restrictions in the banking sector, which are supposed to stop the flow of money for the most part. In addition to a direct flow of money, this will also have an impact on the letter of credit and collection business. If you have ongoing business transactions including receivables and payables, contact your responsible bank and the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), among others, to coordinate further action.

In addition to the sanctions mentioned above, the transport sector continues to be sanctioned, in particular the aviation sector. The transfer of technologies, software and spare parts is currently the subject of sanctions. There are plans to sanction other key industries.

Sanctions have also been imposed in the area of visa policy, which are intended to make it more difficult for Russian citizens to enter the EU.

There is currently uncertainty in the energy sector and with regard to the international payment procedure Swift.

In addition to the European sanctions, it is also important to pay attention to the American sanctions, as these can also be relevant for European companies in the context of US re-export law.

The sanctions against Russia have far-reaching effects on processes in European companies. In addition to the aforementioned sanctions in the area of payment transactions and the transport sector, others will follow with regard to dual-use goods, among other things.

It is imperative that you ensure that the sanctions lists of your Solution M.SecureTrade sanctioned party list screening are always up to date. Check your update intervals and adjust them if necessary. The list of sanctioned companies and individuals is currently subject to great dynamics.

M.SecureTrade Sanctions List Check is customizable to your checking needs in many ways. If you want to make sure that your current checking needs still match the software's settings, we are happy to offer support as part of our consulting services.

In addition, check whether your internal export control processes take the Russia sanctions into account. In particular, the country embargo list of M.SecureTrade export control should be checked and adjusted if necessary.

In addition to the country embargoes and the export of classic, listed dual-use goods, the so-called catch-all clause should also be mentioned again at this point. Here, the critical use also decides on possible licensing requirements or export bans for single-use goods with civilian use.

Inform yourself with the newsletter of the customs about possibly upcoming new codings to be used with M.SecureTrade ATLAS. Here, an update of the so-called code lists may be necessary.

If you have any questions about the technical implications for M.SecureTrade Foreign Trade Solutions, please feel free to contact our consulting team at any time (by mail to produktsupport@mercoline.de).

Among others, the following sources of information are available for German companies (the list is not exhaustive):

• Interactive map of current EU sanctions
• Information from BAFA on Russia sanctions
• BAFA hotline on Russia sanctions: 06196 908-1237