Sanctions 2025

AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Dennis Miralis, Jack Dennis, Henry Yu and Darren Pham, Nyman Gibson Miralis

2.2.5 Mitigation ASO adopts a co-operative approach in administering and enforcing sanctions law to work with the public to prevent and address breaches of Australian sanc - tions law. Certain actions are beneficial to undertake to minimise risk and potential penalties as a result of a breach, including: • undertaking due diligence checks for Australian sanctions law and the business and organisational structure of the ultimate customer (or end user) – to this end, ASO manages the ASO Consolidated List, which sets out the persons and entities who are sanctioned (this is a good, but not definitive, refer - ence point); • adopting appropriate compliance measures and governance policies; • obtaining professional legal advice before engaging in business activities and throughout; and • after obtaining legal advice or otherwise with the assistance of a lawyer, engaging with ASO when there are outstanding queries relating to business or activities. The above-mentioned guidance is particularly perti - nent for corporate entities. The criminal offence for breaching a sanctions law is one of strict liability; how - ever, there is a defence if the body corporate “took reasonable precautions – and exercised due diligence – to avoid contravening” the sanctions law. What this means will depend on the context of each person and company, but the foregoing is a good starting point. 2.2.6 “Strict Liability” For body corporates, breaches of sanctions are “strict liability” offences (see 2.2.2 Breaching Sanctions ). Otherwise, mental elements are still required to be proven. An “authorisation” or “permit” (typically called a “sanc - tions permit”) is available in certain circumstances to permit certain activities related to a person or entity on the Consolidated List that would otherwise be prohib - ited under Australian sanctions laws. These sanctions permits are granted by the Minister (or their delegate). 2.3 Licensing 2.3.1 Derogation

Department of Defence (DOD), the Australian Trans - action Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), to promote compliance with Australian sanctions law and respond to possible breaches. Criminal prosecution of sanction contraventions is undertaken by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. There is no civil liability or enforcement for sanction contraventions. 2.2.2 Breaching Sanctions It is a criminal offence to breach sanctions law, or a condition of authorisation under sanctions law (see 2.3 Licensing ). The penalty depends on who commit - ted the contravention. For individuals, the penalty can be a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years, a fine, or both. The fine is calculated as 2,500 penalty units or – where trans - actions are involved – the greater of three times the value of the transaction or 2,500 penalty units. At as June 2025, 2,500 penalty units equalled AUD825,000. For body corporates, the penalty can be a fine of 10,000 penalty units or – where transactions are involved – the greater of three times the value of the transaction or 10,000 penalty units. As at June 2025, 10,000 penalty units equalled AUD3.30 million. 2.2.3 Civil Enforcement Action There is no civil liability or enforcement for sanction contraventions. 2.2.4 Criminal Enforcement Action There has been no key criminal enforcement action taken in respect of sanctions breaches in Australia in the last three years. The only publicly known criminal enforcement action in Australia was brought against Chan Han Choi, which concluded in 2021.

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