Sanctions 2025

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

3. Recent and Future Legal Developments 3.1 Significant Court Decisions or Legal Developments The Dan-Bunkering/Syria case, decided by the Dan - ish courts on 14 December 2021, is to date the only known criminal case on breach of EU sanctions heard by the Danish courts. There have been no significant court decisions in Denmark after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Criminal investigations and proceedings are underway, but there have been no judgments as of yet. The Dan-Bunkering/Syria case involves Dan-Bunker - ing, Bunker Holding and the CEO of Bunker Holding being convicted of the illegal sale of jet fuel for use in Syria. This was a breach of sanctions adopted by the EU in 2014 against Syria. A total of 172,000 tons of jet fuel was sold and used in Syria. The sale was made to two Russian companies that were procure - ment agents for the Russian military. The jet fuel was delivered in the Mediterranean Sea. The vessels that received the jet fuel sailed to ports in Syria. The court found that there was a clear breach of the Syria sanc - tions and issued fines of DKK4 million and DKK30 million. The court further confiscated DKK15.6 mil - lion, equal to the profit earned by Dan-Bunkering. The circumstances of the sanctions breach were particu - larly egregious given that the sales had taken place over several years and that the jet fuel was found by the Court to have been used by Russian bombers in Syria. It was US authorities that had tipped off the Danish authorities, and the sale of jet fuel continued even after the Danish authorities had questioned the legality thereof. In terms of significant legal developments, the sanc - tions enacted by the EU against Russia and Belarus following the second invasion of Ukraine on 24 Febru - ary 2024 need no introduction. Currently, 17 sanctions packages have been issued by the EU, and the num - ber is still growing – the 18th package is pending. The scale of the Russia sanctions is unprecedented and imposes risks for all business that have any dealings with Russia. Even businesses that do not have any direct nexus to Russia, such as shipping companies, exporters, banks, insurance companies, etc, need

to understand and be aware of the risks involved in breaching the Russia sanctions if the business has cross-border activity. In 2025, most sanctions against Syria were removed. All major embargoes have been lifted by way of enact - ing amendment regulations. There are still arms con - trols in place with limited asset freezes, but – broadly speaking – Syria is open for trade on the world market. This includes banking services, such as transactions with the central bank in Syria, trade in Syrian oil, etc. 3.2 Future Developments It remains to be seen whether the Danish authorities will ramp up their enforcement actions. This is first and foremost a matter of resources. So far, in practical terms, enforcement has been seen when authorities in Denmark have been tipped off – eg, by the media (such as DanWatch), by banks reporting on asset freezes or by foreign authorities (such as in the Dan-Bunkering case). Danish authori - ties have not been allocated the resources necessary to undertake independent investigations. One could compare this with the dawn raids that have been seen in cases involving suspected competition law breaches. Those are not (yet) reality in Denmark when it comes to sanctions violations. There are provisions that grant a legal basis to authorities to make a dawn raid, but it remains to be seen whether and when such powers will be put to use. The Danish police obvi - ously are very well equipped to ransack property and take on criminal cases. The NSK is known for being highly ambitious and efficient, and it remains to be seen to what extent they will take on cases involving suspected breaches of EU sanctions. Directive (EU) 2024/1226, adopted by the Euro - pean Parliament and the Council on 24 April 2024, establishes comprehensive rules for defining crimi - nal offences and penalties related to the violation of EU sanctions. The Harmonisation Directive is an important step towards more vigorous and efficient enforcement of EU sanctions in all EU member states; however, the Directive is not binding for Denmark. It remains to be seen whether the Danish legislator will opt in by adopting national rules that are rooted in the Harmonisation Directive. This appears unlikely.

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