European Commission welcomes political agreement on new rules criminalising the violation of EU sanctions

The European Commission welcomes the provisional political agreement reached today between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission's December 2022 proposal to harmonise criminal offences and penalties for the violation of EU restrictive measures.  While the Russian aggression against Ukraine is ongoing, it is paramount that EU restrictive measures are fully implemented and the violation of those measures is punished.  

Once adopted, the new rules will harmonise the relevant criminal offences related to violation of sanctions and penalties for those offences across the EU and make it easier to investigate and prosecute such violations in all Member States in the same way. They will also establish the same level of penalties in all Member States, closing existing legal loopholes and increasing the deterrent effect of violating EU sanctions in the first place.