Giani Pandey has been invited once again to speak at the Singapore Summit on Export Controls Compliance.

Since our last blog entry on the issue (here), the EU has adopted the Regulation imposing the EU import ban on goods and certain services from Crimea and Sevastopol. The Regulation, which came into force on 25 June 2014, contained two exceptions: (i) a grandfather clause for contracts and (ii) goods presented to the Ukrainian authorities to confirm their origin. The EU published however on the 4th of July a correction relating to the second exception.

At its meeting of 23 June 2014, the Council of the European Union decided that from the 25th of June onwards goods originating in Crimea and Sevastopol may no longer be imported into the European Union, except if they  have been granted a certificate of origin by the Ukrainian authorities. Furthermore, providing  financial and insurance services related to the import of such goods will equally be prohibited. Such total import ban measures  are relatively exceptional for the EU.

The EU has responded directly to the worsening situation in Ukraine by agreeing "as a matter of urgency to introduce targeted sanctions including asset freeze and visa ban against those responsible for human rights violations, violence and use of excessive force. Member States agreed to suspend export licences on equipment which might be used for internal repression and reassess export licences for equipment covered by Common Position 2008/944/CFSP".