DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Rikke Sonne, Jakob Skov Bundgaard and Tilde Nielsen Weidinger, Accura
ment of sanctions regimes, as it closes loopholes and prevents the undermining of the objectives of the sanctions. The CJEU has defined circumvention as “activities in respect of which it appears, on the basis of objec - tive factors, that, under cover of a formal appearance which enables them to avoid the constituent elements of an infringement of [...], none the less they have, as such or by reason of their possible link to other activities, the aim or result, direct or indirect, of frus - trating the prohibition […]” (judgment of the CJEU, 21 December 2011, C-72/11, Afrasiabi , EU:C:2011:874, paragraphs 60 and 62). The aim of anti-circumvention provisions is to prevent persons and entities from intentionally, knowingly or negligently undermining the objectives of the sanc - tions regimes by participating in activities that the sanctions regimes are made to avoid. As an example of a circumvention prohibition, the EU sanctions regime against Russia includes in Article 12 of Regulation 833/2014 a prohibition to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent prohibitions in the Regulation, including by participating in such activi - ties without deliberately seeking that object or effect but being aware that the participation may have that object or effect and accepting that possibility.
Specifically for EU sanctions directed at Russia, the European Commission published a list of countries with a higher risk of diversion to Russia. The list includes countries such as Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. As the prohibition also applies in cases of negligent circumvention, businesses are required to conduct a risk assessment and appropriate due diligence on business to ensure that they do not participate in cir - cumvention. 7.3.2 Criminal Penalties Circumvention of EU sanctions is considered a breach of sanctions and therefore a criminal offence under Danish law. Under Section 110c(3), subsection (2) of the Danish Criminal Code, violations of EU sanctions may be punished with a fine or imprisonment of up to five years, or, in cases with particularly aggravating circumstances, with up to eight years’ imprisonment. Section 110c(6) of the Danish Criminal Code further provides that negligent breaches of EU sanctions are also punishable and may result in a fine or imprison - ment of up to three years.
109 CHAMBERS.COM
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