Sanctions and Asset-Freezing (Implementation of EU Regulations) (Jersey) Order 2020

On Thursday 8 October 2020, the Minister for External Relations made the Sanctions and Asset-Freezing (Implementation of EU Regulations) (Jersey) Order 2020 (the “Order”), under the Sanctions and Asset-Freezing (Jersey) Law 2019 (the “Law”). It will come into force on Thursday 22 October. Please see Annex 1 to view the Order.

Effect of the Order

The Order will repeal and replace all existing Jersey sanctions Orders implemented under the Law. 30 Jersey sanctions Orders implementing more than 30 EU sanctions regulations, and the Sanctions and Asset-Freezing (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2019 (the “GPO”), will be replaced by the Order.

This will consolidate existing sanctions provisions, so that EU sanctions regulations that are currently implemented by many different Jersey sanctions Orders will be implemented by a single Order.

The primary purpose of the Order is to rationalise how sanctions regimes are implemented in Jersey (e.g. so that they all share the same asset-freezing provisions) and to make it easier to see which sanctions are in force and any amendments that are made.

It does not introduce significant changes to the sanctions prohibitions that are already in force in Jersey and no new asset-freeze designations are made by the Order. Financial sanctions notices will continue to be published on the Jersey Gazette when any new designations come into force.

Other changes made by the Order

• Under the Order, all sanctions regimes (e.g. Iran, Iraq, etc.) will be covered, inter alia, by the same asset-freezing, licensing, circumvention, and information provisions provided for by the Law.
• The Order implements EU sanctions regulations in respect of Haiti, and Serbia and Montenegro; sanctions regimes that that were previously only implemented by Orders in Council.
• Some EU sanctions regulations contain a prohibition against satisfying claims with regard to contracts and transactions whose performance is affected by the implemented regulation or a UN Security Council Resolution. The Order will ensure that all such prohibitions are covered by an offence. The sanctions regimes that will have an offence attached to such a prohibition for the first time are listed in Annex 2.

Further information about the Order

• Schedule 1 to the Order lists the sanctions regimes that are implemented. It also lists, inter alia, the relevant EU sanctions regulations, the annexes to those regulations that contain persons and entities that are subject to an asset-freeze, and the articles of the regulations covered by an offence.
• Schedule 2 contains updated and amended General Provisions that apply to all sanctions regimes covered by the Order, which were previously set out in the GPO.
• Schedule 3 lists all the existing sanctions Orders that are repealed by the Order.

Sanctions guidance

The country and category sanctions guidance pages  on the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) website will be updated when the Order comes into force to reflect the changes made.

For more general guidance on financial sanctions please see the main sanctions page on the JFSC website.