LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Lukas-Florian Gilhofer and Mathias Bitschnau, Ospelt & Partner Attorneys at Law Ltd
resignations by trustees, leaving up to several hundred foundations and establishments effec - tively paralysed – without functioning governing bodies and unable either to continue operations or to be wound up. The government established an emergency inter-agency task force in response. The legal significance of this development lies in the fact that the FMA effectively incorporated US secondary sanctions into Liechtenstein supervi - sory practice without any express statutory basis for doing so, raising fundamental questions about the boundaries of the FMA’s supervisory mandate and the extraterritorial reach of foreign sanctions regimes. • Intensification of FIU proceedings and first ISG- based FMA fines (2022–2025) – sanctions-related cases reported to the FIU rose sharply, from 23 cases in 2021 to 222 cases in 2024. In parallel, the FMA began actively enforcing ISG-specific compliance obligations, imposing fines of up to CHF100,000 on legal persons for violations of the screening and review obligations under Article 2c in conjunction with Article 11 (1a) ISG. This marks the transition from a largely passive to an actively enforced sanctions compliance regime in Liechten - stein, and represents the first systematic use of the ISG’s administrative penalty provisions by the FMA as a supervisory tool. • Directive (EU) 2024/1226 and its relevance for Liechtenstein – Directive (EU) 2024/1226, adopted in April 2024, criminalised the violation and cir - cumvention of EU sanctions at the EU level. As an EEA member state, Liechtenstein is required to transpose this Directive into national law within the prescribed implementation period. This represents a significant development for the Liechtenstein sanctions framework, as it will require the ISG to be reviewed and, where necessary, amended to ensure full alignment with the EU’s minimum crimi - nal law standards in the sanctions field. • Total revision of the FIU Act (2025–2026) – the ongoing total revision of the FIU Act represents the most significant institutional restructuring of Liechtenstein’s sanctions enforcement framework since the ISG was enacted in 2009. The revision clearly separates the FIU’s dual functions as both a financial intelligence unit and an ISG enforcement authority, expands its powers to suspend transac -
tions and impose asset freezes, and establishes a framework for public-private partnerships for the exchange of sanctions-related typologies and red flags. Once enacted, this reform will materially alter the institutional architecture of sanctions enforce - ment in Liechtenstein. 3.2 Future Developments The 20th EU sanctions package against Russia was adopted on 23 April 2026, and Liechtenstein trans - posed the first part of this package into national law on 28 April 2026. Liechtenstein implemented the 21st sanctions package on 28 July 2026. Additional sanc - tions packages are expected to follow in the coming months, as they have been released on a regular basis for the past four years. Liechtenstein is expected to continue its practice of autonomous and timely trans - position of each successive package. At the national level, several further developments are anticipated: • the ongoing adaptation of national law to new EU sanctions packages, in particular in the Russia and Belarus context, will continue to require regular amendments to the Ukraine Ordinance and related instruments; • a continuing tightening of compliance requirements for financial intermediaries is expected, in particu - lar in the areas of sanctions screening and transac - tion monitoring, driven both by FMA supervisory practice and by the transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1226; • legislative revisions currently in progress are aimed at strengthening the FMA’s powers to withdraw licences from regulated fiduciaries in the sanc - tions context – in particular through amendments to the Trustees Act (TrHG) – and these reforms are expected to be enacted in the near term; and • increasing regulation of the cryptocurrency and digital asset sector with regard to sanctions com - pliance is anticipated, in line with the entry into force of the EEA MiCA implementation framework and corresponding supervisory guidance from the FMA. On the institutional side, the total revision of the FIU Act – currently progressing through the legislative pro -
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