Sanctions 2025

BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Valerijus Ostrovskis, Bogdan Evtimov, Michael De Boeck and Coline Cauvin, ACQUIS

Managers received suspended jail sentences: the AAE director was handed four months, and the manager at Anex/Danmar received twelve months. However, while some of these criminal cases might still be ongoing or unpublished, the Belgian Minister of Finance communicated in February 2023 that 19 reports have been referred to the public prosecu - tor’s office, and that a further 15 other such reports are being prepared. Also in February 2023, the Ant - werp Public Prosecutor’s Office reported that three raids had been carried out, resulting in the seizure of approximately USD1.5 million worth of diamonds suspected of involvement in EU sanctions evasion. A wave of six raids in March 2024 targeted networks involved in trafficking Russian diamonds – over EUR8 million in shipments were seized and four individuals arrested. In December 2023, co-ordinated searches in Knokke‑Heist and Eeklo, prompted by US intelli - gence, led to six arrests (four in Belgium), concern - ing suspected illicit exports of controlled goods and technology to Russia. 2.2.5 Mitigation The prosecution of sanctions violations in Belgium is subject to administrative procedures or judicial crimi - nal procedures. There is no explicit national law frame - work for aggravating or mitigating circumstances for criminal liability of sanctions violations, other than the applicable EU regulatory framework. Unlike the USA (and especially unlike the Office of Foreign Assets Controls), the EU does not have a clear framework for mitigating (nor aggravating) factors. It is up to each EU member state’s prosecution author - ity to decide whether one’s actions are sufficient to avoid or lessen the penalty. The EC provides general and situation-specific guidance for EU operators (eg, importance of internal compliance programmes, as well as performing adequate due diligence in respect of KYC/Know Your Transaction). In Belgium, as in most EU member states, the existence of a robust internal compliance programme could be an argument in favour of mitigating the liability of a company being prosecuted; however, there is no general rule guaran - teeing reduction of the penalty.

The upcoming implementation of the EU Directive 2024/1226 into Belgian law may entail the adoption of a clearer framework for mitigating and aggravating circumstances in criminal liability for sanctions viola - tions. 2.2.6 “Strict Liability” In Belgium, all sanctions violations constitute a “regu - latory offence” under the provisions of the law of 13 April 2003 and thus subject to strict liability standard under general criminal law principles. However, it must be noted that some EU Council regulations imposing restrictive measures do contain provisions to ensure that EU operators do not incur liability without intent or reasonable awareness of the possibility of a violation, which can operate to soften the strict liability standard in general Belgian criminal law. The EU’s sanctions regulations provide for general and special derogations that may be granted by the national competent authorities “under such conditions as they deem appropriate”. The specific grounds are provided in the respective sanctions regulations (eg, Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014) and are often subject to specific deadlines. 2.3 Licensing 2.3.1 Derogation The main national competent authorities for sanctions derogation licences are the Ministry of Finance for financial sanctions (including asset freezes), and the Ministry of Economy for economic sanctions. The ministry of finance does issue derogation licences for asset freezes provided that the application com - plies with the conditions. 2.3.2 Provision of Legal Services In Belgium as well as in the EU, the provision of legal services to designated persons or entities is gener - ally prohibited – as are payments for such services from such persons and entities. Although there is no applicable general licence, EU regulations generally provide that national competent authorities may allow the release of funds or the making available of certain frozen funds or economic resources to or from desig - nated persons for reasonable legal expenses.

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