Sanctions 2025

DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Anders Amstrup Fournais and Sarah Bisgaard Møller, Hafnia Law Firm LLP

It remains a common error when interpreting EU sanc - tions to say that sanctions are breached when in fact they do not even apply in the first place. One should not start at a given article in an EU regulation. As the first step, it must be considered whether there is juris - diction. To establish jurisdiction for EU sanctions to apply, there must be a nexus to the EU, as set out in the preceding paragraph (see the first and second bullet points in the foregoing). As such, EU sanctions are not extraterritorial. With very limited exceptions, the EU does not have sanctions akin to US secondary sanctions. 1.4.3 Domestic and/or Supranational Measures In practice, sanctions are imposed only by the EU and the UN.

lated under aggravating circumstances; this presup - poses that the sanctions enforcement bill is passed by the Danish Parliament, which is expected in 2025). This presupposes that a prosecutor can prove beyond a reasonable doubt the intent to breach sanctions. Negligent sanctions breaches are a criminal offence that may lead to fines or imprisonment for up to two years 2.2.3 Civil Enforcement Action There are no known civil enforcement actions in respect of sanctions breaches in Denmark in the last three years. 2.2.4 Criminal Enforcement Action There are no known criminal enforcement actions in respect of sanctions breaches in Denmark in the last three years. See also 3.1 Significant Court Decisions or Legal Developments . 2.2.5 Mitigation Mitigating steps that can be taken to avoid or lessen penalties for a breach include turning oneself in vol - untarily, disclosure and surrendering the fruits of the crime, and co-operation with police and prosecutors. Ensuring that compliance due diligence is imple - mented can help reduce the risk of sanctions being breached illegally. 2.2.6 “Strict Liability” Unlike US sanctions, a breach of EU sanctions in Den - mark will only become a matter of criminally liability if the sanctions rule was breached intentionally or neg - ligently. There is no scope to deviate or derogate from EU sanctions unless there is a legal basis to do so in the relevant EU Council Regulation. There are many specific grounds for licensing across the applicable EU Council Regulation, and it would exceed the scope of this article to list them all. For instance, a payment that has been frozen pursuant to Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014, Article 2 (1) on the grounds that the payment belongs to or benefits a designated person or entity may be released pursuant 2.3 Licensing 2.3.1 Derogation

2. Overview of Regulatory Field 2.1 Primary Regulators

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has listed all competent Danish authorities. As can be seen, com - petence is divided between many different pub - lic authorities. The main authorities (regulators) are the Danish Business Authority, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Danish Customs Authority and the Danish

Maritime Authority. 2.2 Enforcement 2.2.1 Enforcement Responsibilities

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service ( Politi- ets Efterretningstjeneste PET) and the Special Crime Unit ( National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet NSK) are responsible for criminal enforcement in case of sanctions violations. In practice, local police around the country may undertake investigations, and most cases involving a potential breach of sanctions start with the public authorities mentioned in 2.1 Primary Regulators . 2.2.2 Breaching Sanctions Pursuant to Section 110 c of the Danish Crimi - nal Code, breaching sanctions is a serious criminal offence that may result in fines or imprisonment for up to four years (this will be amended to five years, or even up to eight years, of prison if sanctions are vio -

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