LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Lukas-Florian Gilhofer and Mathias Bitschnau, Ospelt & Partner Attorneys at Law Ltd
• A lawyer may advise a sanctioned person on their legal position, in particular with regard to delisting procedures, exemption authorisations and per - missible activities under the applicable sanction’s regime. • A lawyer may submit exemption applications on behalf of the sanctioned person to the FIU or to the government. 2.4 Reporting Reporting obligations in connection with sanctions in Liechtenstein arise from several complementary provisions of the ISG and the relevant implementing ordinances. As a general matter, Article 2b ISG establishes a duty to provide information: any person directly or indirect - ly affected by measures under the ISG must, upon request, provide the competent enforcement authori - ties and the due diligence supervisory authorities with all information required for the performance of their duties, and must transmit relevant documents and copies accordingly. Any reporting obligations set out in the relevant ordinances must furthermore be com - plied with promptly and in writing. With regard to frozen funds and economic resources specifically, all persons and institutions that hold or manage funds, or that have knowledge of econom - ic resources presumed to fall within the scope of a freeze, must report this to the FIU without delay. Such reports must include the names of the beneficiaries as well as the subject matter and value of the fro - zen funds and economic resources – an obligation closely mirroring the reporting requirements imposed at EU level under Articles 8 and 9 of Council Regula - tion (EU) No 269/2014, which similarly require sanc - tioned persons and central securities depositories to supply information on frozen assets to the competent national authority. Further periodic reporting obligations exist in the context of the Ukraine sanctions regime. An existing obligation under the Ukraine Ordinance covers the reporting of all deposits held by Russian nationals or by natural or legal persons resident or established in Russia in excess of CHF100,000, as well as deposits held by persons in possession of so-called golden
passports or golden visas. In addition, with effect from 14 February 2025, the government adopted an amendment to the Ordinance on Measures in connec - tion with the situation in Ukraine, autonomously imple - menting the quarterly transaction reporting obligation introduced at EU level. This obligation applies to all legal persons, organisations and entities established in Liechtenstein that are over 40% directly or indirectly held by a legal person, organisation or entity estab - lished in the Russian Federation, a Russian national or a natural person resident in the Russian Federa - tion – tracking closely the corresponding provision of Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014, which requires entities in the Union with more than 40% Russian ownership to report quarterly any transfer of funds exceeding EUR100,000 out of the Union. Finally, Article 2c ISG imposes special review and reporting obligations on persons subject to due dili - gence within the meaning of the Due Diligence Act. Those persons who are affected by measures under the ISG must, in the area of capital and payment trans - actions, subject customer- and transaction-related documents to appropriate review, having particular regard to the contractual partner, the beneficial owner and the effective contributor, the distribution recipient of discretionarily structured legal entities, the business profile and the transactions concerned. 3. Recent and Future Legal Developments 3.1 Significant Court Decisions or Legal Developments As no published court decisions on sanctions matters have been issued in Liechtenstein over the past three years, the most significant developments during this period have taken place at the regulatory and legisla - tive level. • FMA guidance of September 2024 and the “orphaned entities” crisis – following US OFAC sanctions targeting Liechtenstein-based trustees and fiduciaries with Russian connections, the FMA declared in September 2024 that severing ties with exposed clients was the only appropriate means of mitigating the associated risk. This triggered mass
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