Sanctions 2025

AUSTRALIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Dennis Miralis and Jack Dennis, Nyman Gibson Miralis

Nyman Gibson Miralis Level 9 299 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia Tel: +61 2 9264 8884

Email: dm@ngm.com.au Web: www.ngm.com.au

Introduction Australia is on the precipice of change for both the leg - islative framework and regulatory approach within its sanctions landscape. Stakeholders have made their views clear, with multiple reviews having been con - cluded by Senate Committees and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), opening up potential for change across the board. Already regulatory prac - tice has leaned heavily into compliance and education in response to reviews, with DFAT releasing several publications and tools. These may prove critical to Australian businesses as new AML/CTF obligations come into effect and the AML/CTF regime expands its coverage in 2026. Although much remains the same at this stage in terms of the enforcement and use of sanctions regimes, there are early signs that the Australian government and regulator may be increasing enforcement actions targeting evasions and breaches. Even now, the gov - ernment is considering additional regulatory powers and capacity-building methods. However, the scale continues to be tipped towards opaqueness and away from fairness, with limited (if any) reasoning disclosed for listings; delisting pro - cesses remaining as hard as ever to navigate; per - mits left unrecognised by financial institutions; and the Australian government continuing to embrace and use sanctions in a highly selective and transparently political fashion. Although we will likely see notable legislative reform and regulatory operational changes in the 2025-26 period, it remains to be seen whether they will resolve or exacerbate the ongoing issues.

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews! A constant theme of the Australian sanctions legal landscape has been reviews. In January 2023, DFAT announced its review of Aus - tralia’s autonomous sanctions framework after 12 years of operations and ahead of the framework expir - ing on 1 April 2024. This review was ongoing until 30 October 2024, when a five-page report was published summarising stakeholders’ responses to the seven issues. Recognised in this report was the need to streamline and increase guidance on several facets of Australian sanctions regimes. The report is still under consideration by the Australian government. In February 2025, another review into Australia’s sanc - tions regime concluded after being conducted by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Reference Com - mittee (FADT Committee). Having started in July 2024, this review focused on the assessment of consistency and effectiveness of the regime, Australia’s co-ordina - tion with “like-minded states”, and potential uses of frozen/confiscated assets. The report comprised eight recommendations and canvassed a range of views, including: • the underutilisation, inconsistent application of, and lack of objective reasoning behind Magnitsky- style sanctions; • concerns that Australia’s sanctions are lagging many months behind allies’ sanctions notwith - standing the same intelligence likely being avail - able; and • the need for stronger enforcement, including build - ing capabilities to “close loopholes which allow

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