Alex Haines speaks on US sanctions against Iran and the EU Blocking Statute

Alex Haines was invited by SanctionsAlert.com to speak on US sanctions and the EU Blocking Statute in a live webinar on 15 November 2018.

The webinar, entitled The Blocking Statute: Protecting EU Companies From the Effects of Extra-Territorial Application of US Sanctions Against Iran was attended by a number of financial institutions.

Other speakers at the webinar included Alina Nedea, Deputy Head of Restrictive Measures Unit, European Commission, and the Chair Anna Sayre, Legal Content Writer at SanctionsAlert.com.

In this SanctionsAlert.com webinar, Alex and Alina discussed the vital elements of the EU Blocking Statute as well as how to best deal with the discrepancy between EU and US rules in order to stay compliant. The webinar covered the history of the Blocking Statute, what the amendment to the Annex of the Blocking Statute means in practice (de facto perspective) as opposed to what it means in law (de jure perspective), and the extent to which the Blocking Statute is a political statement as opposed to an effective tool which EU companies can rely on.

The context for the webinar follows President Trump’s 8 May 2018 announcement that the US would be withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. Following this decision, EU leaders agreed to activate the Blocking Statute, which bans European companies, under threat of punishment, from complying with US sanctions against Iran. This discrepancy between US and EU regimes severely complicate matters for financial institutions and companies looking to comply with sanctions against Iran. Furthermore, there is little to no guidance on this from the regulators which EU companies can rely on. The webinar was recorded and is available to members.

SanctionsAlert.com provides authoritative and objective guidance, news, webinars and other training to corporations, financial institutions, lawyers, consultants and others on the requirements of and compliance with economic sanctions and export controls imposed by the US, UK and other governments throughout the world, as well as by the UN, EU and other international organisations.

News 3 Dec, 2018