Consumer Products and Services – European Sanctions Enforcement

November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 by Mark Handley

United Kingdom – HMRC drops investigation into alleged perfume exports to Russia

Further to our earlier post about an HMRC criminal investigation into the alleged export of luxury perfume to Russia, it is now being reported by the BBC that the investigation has been dropped.

The report does not explain the rationale for discontinuing the investigation, but notes the the primary individual involved, a Mr Crisp, had been recorded on video by a private investigator who asked “How’s your Russian market”, to which the recorded response was “We’re doing really well… we ignore government edicts”.

Another director of the company compiled evidence of the alleged sanction breaches, and provided that to the authorities.

That example of self-reporting and co-operation may well explain why the company was not itself prosecuted. It is unclear why the director Mr Crisp has not been pursued. The investigation first came to light after a civil court ruled there was “strong prima facie evidential basis for the allegations” and ordered the removal of Mr Crisp from his position as director of the company.

November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 by Mark Handley

Germany – three individuals in custody for exporting nearly 100 cars to Russia in breach of sanctions

It is being reported that the Mannheim Public Prosecutor’s Office has three people in custody on suspicion of exporting luxury cars to Russia in breach of EU sanctions.

A car manufacturer made a suspicious activity report regarding the exporter, which led to the investigation.

The three individuals are a married couple who run two car dealerships and a third person who was an employee.

It is alleged that they exported nearly 100 cars to Russia via third countries with a total value of nearly €15 million.

As part of the raids, the prosecutors also secured the freezing of €1.3 million.

November 21, 2024 by Mark Handley

Germany – prosecution of two individuals for attempted exports of luxury goods

The Stuttgart Customs Investigation Office has commenced criminal proceedings against two women aged 64 and 25 for suspected attempts to export luxury goods to Russia.

The women were stopped at Stuttgart Airport on their way to Russia and had €114,000 worth of luxury goods in their luggage.

Further investigation revealed that the two had sipped 7 consignments of goods to Russia, and one of those was stopped with a further €12,000 worth of luxury goods.

The goods have been seized and the women were required to agree to a bond of €105,000 before being allowed to continue their travel.

October 31, 2024October 31, 2024 by Mark Handley

Germany – raids related to luxury car exports of €10m to Russia

German Customs has issued a press release (actually dated 18 September but not spotted until now) reporting on an investigation and raids of several premises in the Aschaffenburg area.

The investigation by Essen Customs Investigation Office and the Würzburg Public Prosecutor’s Office relates to alleged exports of luxury cars to Russia valued at over €10 million.

As part of the raids evidence was collected, while cars valued at over €1.5m and bank accounts with over €1m were also seized.

October 9, 2024October 9, 2024 by Mark Handley

Germany – raids and investigation relating to sanctioned car exports

It is being reported (here and here) that the German authorities have conducted raids on business and residential premises in the town of Königswinter in relation to a criminal investigation into the alleged exports of luxury cars to Russia shipped through third countries.

The raids are said to have taken place in late September and a criminal case has been opened. Cars, cash and evidence were all seized as part of the raids.

The sales are alleged to have totalled more than €4 million.

October 3, 2024October 3, 2024 by Mark Handley

Estonia – trade sanctions confiscations and investigations by Customs

Details of confiscations conducted by Estonia’s Customs office have been reported including the confiscation of goods being exported to Russia at border crossings in breach of EU sanctions. The confiscations include €3,275,295 in cash, electronics parts and equipment, a Starlink antenna, drones, night vision goggles, firearms and ammunition, as well as consumer goods such as jewelry, wine, and diving equipment.

It is also being reported that some of the confiscations are now the subject of ongoing investigations.

October 3, 2024 by Mark Handley

Norway – Customs Office sanctioned exports confiscation statistics

It is being reported, based on Freedom of Information requests made to Norway’s custom office by the Barents Observer, that 23 confiscations of luxury and other goods being exported to Russia have taken place since 2023.

One of the confiscations was at an unspecified port, and the other 22 were at the land crossing at Storskog, with 10 during 2023 and 12 so far in 2024.

The reporting makes no mention of other enforcement actions taken after the confiscation.

September 25, 2024September 25, 2024 by Mark Handley

Switzerland – publishing SECO’s five most recent fines for sanctions breaches

Back in July we published a post highlighting that Switzerland’s SECO had imposed 5 new fines for sanctions breaches.

Through a Freedom of Information request we have obtained anonymized and redacted copies of these five Final Administrative Criminal Decisions.

These five decisions, and machine-generated translations are provided below, as well as summaries of the enforcement actions. The numbering sequence from when this blog published the previous 10 decisions is continued.

As previously, the value of the fines are all fairly low and these five cases combine for a total of CHF 13,490.

11. Final administrative criminal decision, dated 19 February 2024

Original: 2024-02-19-I.77-Strafbescheid.pdf

Translation: 2024-02-19-I.77-Strafbescheid_Translation.pdf

This case concerned the attempted export of CHF 10,569.90 of electrical switches to Russia. The export was stopped at Zurich Airport Customs in December 2023.

The goods in question had been included on the Swiss sanctions list as of 25 January 2023.

The company claimed it was unaware the goods were sanctioned, and SECO accepted this finding that the export was negligent rather than intentional.

In light of the company’s cooperation, and the company being able to show a track record of refusing sales to Russia which they knew were sanctioned, SECO set the fine at CHF 750, plus CHF 250 in costs.

The goods in question were returned to the seller.

12. Final administrative criminal decision, dated 26 February 2024

Original: 2024-02-26-I.78-Strafbescheid.pdf

Translation: 2024-02-26-I.78-Strafbescheid_Translation.pdf

This case concerned the attempted export of €57,263 worth of pressure transmitters, pressure transducers and pressure gauges to Russia. The export was stopped at Zurich Airport Customs in December 2022.

The goods in question had been added to the Swiss sanctions list during November 2022.

SECO had earlier written to the company, in 2021, to say that the export of the goods could be done without a licence, subject to the changing requirements of Swiss sanctions.

SECO accepted the argument that the export was not intentional, but found it was negligent and that the company should have been more aware of the sanctions in place.

In light of the company’s cooperation, SECO set the fine at CHF 2,900, plus CHF 970 in costs.

The goods in question were returned to the seller.

13. Final administrative criminal decision, dated 26 February 2024

Original: 2024-02-26-I.67-Strafbescheid.pdf

Translation: 2024-02-26-I.67-Strafbescheid_translation.pdf

This case concerns two attempted exports of spare parts for medical and dental devices to Russia. Within wider sales of nearly €27,000 worth of parts, sanctioned goods with a value of approximately €3,600 were included.

On both occasions the goods were stopped by customs.

The company sought to explain the two prohibited exports by saying that the wrong HS code had been entered into its internal system (9026.2000 instead of 8481.1010) and so it had not been caught by its systems. In the other instance the company said it searched for the HS code using the format in the customs tariff (which used a full-stop in the number), while in the relevant Appendix in the Ordinance the HS code used a space instead of a full stop. The company’s searches against its products therefore resulted in false negatives and the shipments were incorrectly authorised.

The company relied heavily on its detailed procedures and training as mitigation, and had appointed an outside consultant to assist further with compliance. In addition, the company sought a retrospective approval for the exports on humanitarian/medical grounds.

SECO denied that request saying “a retroactive authorization cannot be issued to regularize exports”.

While not alleging an intention to breach the sanctions, SECO decided that the company had been negligent and commented that a “more precise check” of the prohibited codes would have prevented the export. It is as good an example of the importance of fuzzy searching as you’ll find.

The company was fined CHF1,000 and costs of CHF590. The seized goods were returned to the company.

14. Final administrative criminal decision, dated 11 March 2024

Original: 2024-03-11-I.79-Strafbescheid.pdf

Translation: 2024-03-11-I.79-Strafbescheid_Translation.pdf

This case concerned two blocked exports of goods valued at €2000 which were stopped by the Zurich Customs office. The goods included foam generators and level sensors.

In the first example the attempted export took place on the same day as the respective goods were announced as being added to the lists of prohibited items. The version of Annex 23 to the Ordinance had been updated on SECO’s website, but not on other versions. Nonetheless, SECO determined that the export fell under the heading of “negligent”.

In the second example, the company argued that the prohibition against certain goods which are “suitable for use in the aerospace industry” could be negatived by evidence that this was not going to be the actual use. SECO disagreed.

The company was fined CHF2,300 and ordered to pay costs of CHF970. The seized goods were returned to the company.

15. Final administrative criminal decision, dated 13 March 2024

Original: 2024-03-13-I.76-Strafbescheid-002.pdf

Translation: 2024-03-13-I.76-Strafbescheid_translation.pdf

This case concerned a shipment of 8,640kg of products with customs code 3824.9919 valued at €19,612.80.

The goods were seized by the St. Gallen customs office in October 2022.

The company claimed that it had no knowledge that the goods in question were subject to Switzerland’s Russian sanctions.

SECO’s response was to state:

“However, it is not the actual knowledge of the persons concerned of the criminal nature of the sale and export transaction that establishes criminal liability, but it is sufficient if the knowledge of the criminal liability should have been present in the company with due diligence. This must be affirmed in the present case.”

SECO accordingly concluded that the company was guilty of a negligent breach of sanctions.

A fine of CHF2,800 was imposed and costs of CHF960. The seized goods were returned to the company.

July 15, 2024 by Mark Handley

Czechia – conviction, fine and confiscation for export of luxury cars to Russia

It is being reported (and here) that the Czech authorities have obtained a conviction of Vladimir Lihutin, a Czech national, for an attempt to export three luxury cars to Russia.

The sentence includes:

- a fine of 300,000 crowns (c. €11,500)
- confiscation of €132,000 (being the sums paid by the customers for the cars)
- a ban on buying and selling any cars for 20 months.

This is the first known conviction or fine imposed in Czechia for breaches of EU sanctions.

July 9, 2024 by Mark Handley

UK – HMRC criminal investigation into alleged exports of perfume to Russia

In a civil judgment handed down earlier this week, it was revealed (at paragraph 63) that an individual, David Crisp, was arrested by HMRC on 10 October 2023 and electronic devices were seized.

The allegation is that companies managed by Mr Crisp were knowingly exporting perfume to Russia in breach of the UK’s sanctions.

As of the date of the judgment, HMRC had confirmed (at paragraph 69) that the criminal investigation remains ongoing but so far no charges have been made and Mr Crisp is no longer on bail.

The judgment itself is of note for the Court removing Mr Crisp as a director of the relevant companies on the basis that there was a “strong prima facie evidential basis for the allegations” of breaching the UK’s sanctions. The orders were a form of interlocutory relief as part of an unfair prejudice petition brought by another of the shareholders of the companies.