It is being reported that Norway’s Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste (Norwegian Customs), has 37 ongoing investigations in relation to alleged breaches of Norway’s Russian sanctions. Many of these are said to involve attempts to evade detection by exporting to Russia via third countries, but some are described as relating to imports into Norway.
It is also being reported that there is a further investigation under Norway’s Export Control Act.
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.
It is being reported that the Norwegian Coast Guard conducted an investigation in May into possibly unlawful ship-to-ship transfers of fish between a Russian and a Norwegian vessel.
The transfers involve fish caught by the Russian vessel which cannot then land the fish in the EU, and so engages in a ship-to-ship transfer of the fish to a Norwegian vessel which then landed the fish in the Netherlands.
As there are no import prohibitions in the EU in relation to Russian fish, and the relevant prohibition is the entry into an EU port of a Russian vessel, the report notes that the Norwegian authorities concluded that no breach had occurred.
It was reported today that the Norwegian authorities have imposed their first fine for breaches of sanctions against Russia.
The fine was NOK 50,000 being the profit from the unlawful sale of a car to a Russian customer in breach of Norway’s sanctions against the export of luxury goods.
Further to our earlier post, a former university professor in Norway has been convicted of breaching Norway’s Iran sanctions.
The man has been sentenced to 8 months in jail.
The conviction relates to sharing technology without a licence with Iranians.
The Norwegian authorities have arrested a Russian for flying a drone within Norwegian airspace in breach of the ban on Russian flights.
The man is reported to be Andrey Yakunin, the son of the former head of the Russian Railways.
It has been reported today that the Norwegian authorities have charged a German-Iranian national on suspicion of breaching UN sanctions (as implemented in Norway) against Iran.
The person is a professor at a technical university and is alleged to have invited four Iranian scientists to visit a laboratory in breach of Norway’s, and then permitted them access to technical data in breach of sanctions, export control laws, and data breach legislation.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that an investigation has been commenced into alleged exports of titanium ore to Crimea by the Norwegian company Titania Kronos.
The allegation relates to exports to Russia onboard to HHL Mississippi which were then directed to Crimea.
