DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Johannes Grove Nielsen, Camilla Søgaard Hudson, Lars Rosenberg Overby and Malthe Hersom Kløft, Bech-Bruun
porated into Danish law but are directly applicable within the EU. In 2014, the EU adopted trade restrictions against Syr - ia; however, a Danish bunker group was negligently participating in trading jet fuel with two Russian com - panies, which were importing the jet fuel to Syria. It was an aggravating circumstance that the jet fuel was used in Russian fighters, which were in turn used by President Assad to bomb Syria. The companies were fined DKK30 million and DKK4 million, respectively, and one of the managers was sentenced to a four- month suspended prison sentence. The sanctions were based on Regulation No 36/2012 Article 7a(1)(a), where it is prohibited to “...transfer or export, directly or indirectly, jet fuel and fuel addi - tives… to any person, entity or body in Syria, or for use in Syria”. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website lists all the current trade sanctions Denmark is obliged to enforce. The list is updated whenever a new sanc - tion enters into force. While US trade sanctions, for instance, are not incorporated into Danish domestic law, they still have a large indirect impact on Danish companies. The ongoing situation in Ukraine has led the EU to adopt a substantial number of restrictive measures in view of Russia’s destabilising actions in Ukraine. Sanctions have also been adopted against Bela - rus and Iran for their involvement in the conflict. As described in the foregoing, these sanctions directly apply to individuals and businesses in Denmark. Several of the adopted EU sanctions contain exemp - tions to the trade prohibitions. Depending on the exemption, it may be a requirement to obtain authori - sation from the relevant national authority to refer a
The implications for maritime trade of the Ukrainian war appear to have somewhat stabilised in 2024, albe - it taking into consideration that the war is still ongo - ing and is creating a volatile environment for maritime logistics providers operating near the Ukrainian terri - tory. The circumstances in Ukraine are also creating volatility in the market for war risk insurance products. The Red Sea Crisis continues to affect maritime trade, as many lines consider the trade route unviable and are avoiding the Suez Canal altogether. However, it appears that some stakeholders are being optimistic with regard to the future use of the Suez Canal, as many considers the risk of attacks to have been low - ered significantly. 10. Additional Maritime or Shipping Issues 10.1 Other Jurisdiction-Specific Shipping and Maritime Issues The Brussels I Regulation, which regulates jurisdic - tion, is supplemented by the Danish Merchant Ship - ping Act, which contains jurisdictional rules applicable to carriage of goods by sea. These rules take prec - edence over the general rules provided in the Brussels I Regulation. The Danish Merchant Shipping Act provides that a jurisdiction clause cannot limit a plaintiff’s right to commence proceedings: • at the place where the defendant is domiciled; • at the place where the agreement was entered into, if the defendant has a branch or place of business or the like there; • at the place where the goods were loaded; or • at the place where the goods were or should have been discharged. This means that the plaintiff can always commence proceedings in those jurisdictions even if an exclusive jurisdiction clause states differently. As these places of jurisdiction are not identical to those laid out in the Brussels I Regulation, the Danish Merchant Shipping Act provides that the Brussels I
trade under an exemption. 9.4 International Conflict
Outside the increase in trade sanctions described in 9.3 Trade Sanctions , there have been no legal impli - cations for maritime law or trade in Denmark of inter - national conflicts, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine or the Red Sea Crisis.
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