AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Dennis Miralis, Jack Dennis and Phillip Salakas, Nyman Gibson Miralis
and concluded in February 2025, titled “Australia’s sanctions regime”; and • the review by the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Reference Committee that commenced in December 2024 and concluded in March 2025, titled “Australia’s thematic sanctions framework: A legislated review of the operation of the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Magnitsky-style and other Thematic Sanctions) Act 2021”. All in all, this patchwork of reviews presents a range of stakeholders’ views on Australia’s sanctions regimes. It provides a starting point for an array of legal and regulatory developments. However, there is no draft legislation on the table. The Sanctions Act, however, is due to sunset on 1 October 2027, which is fast approaching. There are two general ways to “challenge” a designa - tion – namely, by requesting a revocation of the des- ignation or by seeking judicial review of the decision to designate. Request Revocation The specific procedure depends on the case factors, including the basis on which a person wants to chal- lenge the designation and the regime under which the person was designated. By way of example, requests for delisting of: • UNSC listings should be made to the Focal Point for De-listing or through the country of citizenship or residence; • UNSC listings related to ISIL (Da’esh) and Al Qaeda should be made to the UN Office of the Ombud - sperson or through the country of citizenship or residence; • UNSC listings related to the counter-terrorism (UNSCR 1373) sanctions regime should be made to DFAT; and • listings related to Australian autonomous sanctions should be made to DFAT. 4. Delisting Challenges 4.1 Process
For requests concerning Australian autonomous sanctions, it is important to note that once a request is submitted, the Minister is not obligated to consider any further requests from the same entity (or on their behalf) for at least 12 months. As such, it is essential to ensure that the initial request is thoroughly pre- pared (ideally with legal advice) to avoid a mandatory 12-month waiting period before another request can be made. Judicial Review The procedure by which to challenge the decision to list itself may be different from the foregoing (eg, through administrative law) and differ from case to case. 4.2 Remedies A successful delisting challenge can result in the removal of the designation list, as this is the primary objective of such a challenge. Importantly, there is no statutory right or framework in Australia to recover financial compensation for wrong - ful designation. However, there may be compensation available if the sanctions were imposed “maliciously”. This remains untested in Australia. 4.3 Timing The time it takes to obtain a delisting may vary sig- nificantly depending on the specific circumstances. There are no statutory timeframes. There are several – independent and overlapping – statutory regimes that prohibit, authorise or otherwise regulate the import and export of a range of goods and services in Australia. The primary statutory instruments have been outlined below. • The Customs Act 1901 (Cth) and the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958 (Cth) – these primarily deal with controls for the import and export of most goods, including defence and dual- 5. Trade and Export Restrictions 5.1 Services
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