FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: William Julié, Amélie Beauchemin, Camille Gosson and Elena Moreno, WJ Avocats
and security in the EU, and the interests of its member states or third countries. 1.3 Key Industries Sectors in France particularly affectedby EU sanctions pursuant to Council Decision 2014/512/CFSP and Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 include finance, banking, dual-use goods and diamond mining. Sectors in which natural persons who are under sanc - tions are involved, or used to be involved, are also affected, as third-party actors refuse to work with all natural and legal persons even remotely linked to them, even if these links are only historic. In particu - lar, this concerns sectors such as fertilisers, oil, coal and IT. 1.4 Overview 1.4.1 Types of Sanctions France implements both individual sanctions, target - ing natural and legal persons, and sectoral sanctions, decided at the UN, EU and national levels. Individual sanctions include travel bans and the freez - ing of assets, and sectoral sanctions include embar - goes and other restrictions on the export and import of certain goods. 1.4.2 Scope of Sanctions The scope of the sanctions applied by France as an EU member state can be considered quite broad (although less broad than the scope of US sanctions, for example, because the EU does not apply second - ary sanctions), as EU sanctions must be complied with by: • anyone present in the territory of the EU, including its airspace; • anyone on board any aircraft or any vessel under the jurisdiction of an EU member state; • all nationals of an EU member state, even when outside of the territory of the EU; • any legal person, entity or body, inside or outside the territory of the EU, which is incorporated or constituted under the law of an EU member state; and • any legal person, entity or body in respect of any business done in whole or in part within the EU.
First, autonomous sanctions imposed by the French authorities (which are not a mere application of EU or UN restrictive measures) do not have extraterritorial effects. Second, regarding the scope of application of EU sanctions, they must be complied with by: • any person inside or outside the territory of the EU who is a national of a member state, and by any legal entity (Article 13 (c) of Regulation 833/2014 and Article 17 (c) of Regulation 269/2014); • any legal person, entity or body, inside or outside the territory of the EU, which is incorporated or constituted under the law of a member state; and • any legal person, entity or body in respect of any business done in whole or in part with the EU. In addition, although in theory the EU has always stat - ed its sanctions would not have any extraterritorial effects, this has been called into question since the 11th package of sanctions against Russia was issued in June 2023. This created the possibility of taking exceptional, last-resort measures restricting the sale, supply, transfer or export of certain goods, such as sensitive dual-use goods and technology or goods and technology that might contribute to the enhance - ment of Russia’s military, technological and industrial capacities, and whose export is already restricted to third countries whose jurisdiction is at a particularly high and continuing risk of being used for circumven - tion. Furthermore, starting in June 2024, Regulation 833/2014 sets out a “best efforts” obligation under Article 8a providing that: “Natural and legal persons, entities and bodies shall undertake their best efforts to ensure that any legal person, entity or body estab - lished outside the Union that they own or control does not participate in activities that undermine the restric - tive measures provided for in this Regulation”. 1.4.3 Domestic and/or Supranational Measures In France, sanctions are imposed at three different levels. • National: France has two different sanctions regimes of its own, in the areas of counterterror -
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