LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Lukas-Florian Gilhofer and Mathias Bitschnau, Ospelt & Partner Attorneys at Law Ltd
the ISG. In theory, the general rules on state liability could apply; however, such a claim would in practice be very difficult to enforce, since the listing is based on a lawful act of public authority and the claimant would bear the burden of demonstrating unlawful con - duct on the part of the authorities. 4.3 Timing As a preliminary observation, the practical relevance of purely domestic remedies in the Liechtenstein con - text is limited. While Liechtenstein formally publishes its own national sanctions list under the ISG, this list constitutes in practice a verbatim transposition of the EU list, without autonomous listings or independent screening. A purely domestic listing – one that would not simultaneously reflect an EU or UN measure – is therefore unlikely to occur. The domestic framework described below is accordingly most relevant not as a remedy against a Liechtenstein-specific listing, but as a potential avenue for seeking the non-application of an autonomously adopted EU measure in an indi - vidual case. For the domestic legal avenue, a person wishing to obtain their delisting may submit a reasoned appli - cation to the government at any time under Article 8a ISG, without being subject to any time limit. The government then examines whether the conditions for the coercive measure continue to be met and issues a reasoned decision. Should that decision prove unfa - vourable, the applicant may subsequently appeal to the Administrative Court ( Verwaltungsgerichtshof , VGH). Taking into account both stages of this pro - cedure, a total timeframe of between six months and two years is realistic in complex and contested cases. For the international legal avenue – that is, in respect of EU- or UN-based listings adopted by Liechtenstein by virtue of its international obligations – the applica - ble time limits are those of the originating legal order. At the EU level, for instance, a sanctioned person has two months from the publication or personal notifica - tion of the listing decision to bring an action before the Court of Justice of the European Union, whereas no time limit applies to a request for administrative recon - sideration before the Council of the EU. In practice, delistings before both the court and the Council have taken around two years. This timeframe is structurally
longer and falls entirely outside the sphere of influence of the Liechtenstein authorities.
5. Trade and Export Restrictions 5.1 Services Economic sanctions against Russia include a broad prohibition on providing, directly or indirectly, certain advisory and other services to the Russian government and to legal persons, entities and bodies established in Russia, as provided by Council Decision 2014/512/ CFSP and Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine. The prohibited services include, among oth - ers, accounting and auditing services (including statu - tory audit, bookkeeping and tax consulting), business and management consulting, public relations services and IT consulting services. In addition, the sanctions regime prohibits the provi - sion of technical assistance, brokering or financing services in connection with sanctioned goods and technologies, as well as the transfer of intellectual property rights or trade secrets relating to such goods and technologies. Further restrictions apply to soft - ware for business management, industrial design and manufacturing, as well as software intended for use in the banking and financial sector. 5.2 Goods Under the ISG as the national implementing statute, and by virtue of Liechtenstein’s membership of the EEA and its customs union with Switzerland, the regulatory framework governing goods prohibitions derives from two principal sources: EU sanctions law as incorporated through the EEA, and Swiss econom - ic sanctions measures applied by virtue of the cus - toms union. Liechtenstein implements UN sanctions as a matter of international obligation and, as an EEA member, voluntarily adopts EU restrictive measures in addition. While Liechtenstein does not maintain an autonomous export control system in the strict sense, it imple - ments a comprehensive goods embargo regime that
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