Ireland
Page last updated March 2023
Recent news items
On 9 March 2023 the CCAB-I Insolvency Committee published Technical Alert 01/2023 Help sheet for Insolvency Practitioners on the impact of Sanctions. This help sheet provides information on the legal obligation not to transfer funds or make funds or economic resources available, directly, or indirectly, to any person or entity that has been sanctioned under EU financial sanctions. It also provides some examples of exposure risks for Insolvency Practitioners and how to mitigate such risks.
The Irish Central Bank (CBI ) has recently updated its sanctions webpage with an infographic and financial sanctions FAQs about which you can read more here including a question on whether sanctions only apply to those on the sanctions lists? In the answer CBI says that where you identify that a sanctioned individual or entity owns or controls the individual/entity with whom you are transacting, you should fully assess the impact of this ownership or control. When conducting this assessment, you should refer to the EU Commission’s guidance on ownership and control. This guidance on ownership/control can be found in EU Best Practices which was updated in 2022.
In a press release dated 25 October 2022, the Irish Dept. of Justice announced that it is removing the Russian Federation and Belarus from the Irish Short-Stay Visa Waiver Programme. The programme allows nationals of certain countries who have entered the United Kingdom on foot of certain UK short stay visas, to travel to Ireland without the requirement to obtain an Irish visa. The Minister for Justice said that the action is being taken in light of the continued Russian aggression against Ukraine and we understand that a statutory instrument effecting the change has been signed.
She also announced the non-recognition in Ireland of Russian passports issued in occupied foreign regions to counter the Russian practice of handing out ordinary Russian passports to residents of non-government-controlled areas in Ukraine and Georgia.
On 28 September 2022 the EU President von der Leyen issued a press statement on a new eighth package of restrictive measures against Russia. Details on the press release can be found by following the above link. Please click here also for an analysis of the proposals in relation to the eighth package by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.
Please see the "Europe & International webpage for details on the eighth sanctions package.
Readers may find interesting an article which appeared in the Sunday Independent on Sept 4Th 2022 in relation to sanctions derogations. Click the link to access the article if you have a subscription to the Irish/Sunday Independent. Central Bank allowed Russian state firm GTLK a break from sanctions to pay millions of euro in wages, rent and legal fees - Independent.ie . The article is instructive on derogations. According to the article which accessed the information through a freedom of information request, the Irish Central Bank has granted some derogations as has the Irish Dept of Enterprise Trade and Employment.
The article is Copyright Mediahuis Ireland. Reproduced by kind permission of the Sunday Independent.
Please also see another article of interest from the Sunday Independent on 14 August 2022.The article reports on the grant by the Department of Foreign Affairs, one of the Irish competent authorities for the enforcement of sanctions, of a number of derogations in respect of legal representation of sanctioned individuals. Click the link to access the article if you have a subscription to the Irish/Sunday Independent.
Copyright Mediahuis Ireland. Reproduced by kind permission of the Sunday Independent.
Please click here to read an RTE news report of August 2022 High court case on a sanctions dispute over ships in which the Irish central bank is also a defendant. Judgment has now been given in that case; see the recent High Court judgment (August 2022) of Sanfey J in the case of Pola Logistics Limited as plaintiff and GTLK Europe DAC, GTLK Malta Four Limited and Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) as defendants. The judgment is available free of charge from the Irish courts service website and see some further information on the case under the "Irish Central Bank " heading below.
CEA information note -power to appoint a statutory auditor/Russia sanctions
Guidance
On 4 March 2022, Chartered Accountants Ireland, together with the other members of CCAB Ireland, issued a joint statement to the profession following recent and ongoing developments in Ukraine. This guidance considers Irish members’ obligations in relation to sanctions, ethical considerations and obligations under AML legislation.
Competent authorities
The Central Bank is one of the competent authorities for Ireland in the Annexes to the EU Financial Sanctions Regulations and is responsible for the administration, supervision, and enforcement of relevant aspects of financial sanctions in Ireland. The other Irish competent authorities for EU Restrictive Measures are the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment which is responsible for the implementation of trade sanctions and the Department of Foreign Affairs which is responsible for foreign policy and representing Ireland internationally.
Legislative provisions
Financial sanctions emanate from the EU and the UN and are contained in sanctions lists - see EU and UN headings below. Nine packages of sanctions (including a maintenance and alignment package adopted in July 2022) have been adopted by the EU to date, The latest measures were adopted on 16 December 2022. See also further under "Central Bank" and other headings below and on "Europe" sub page.
EU and UN sanctions are implemented in Ireland through EU council decisions and regulations. The regulations are directly applicable in Irish law. In addition, statutory instruments (SIs) are frequently made in order to provide for a domestic offence for breach of the sanctions and for related penalties. A comprehensive list of SIs may be found in the searchable
Irish Statute Book, and a number of new regulations in relation to Ukraine and Belarus have been made by the Minister for Finance in recent months.
Links to the following websites provide further detail on information that is relevant in Ireland and which members may find useful.
Ban on accounting services
See information on "Europe & International " webpage.
Irish Central Bank
In December 2022 the Irish Central Bank (CBI ) updated its sanctions webpage with an infographic and financial sanctions FAQs about which you can read more here including a question on whether sanctions only apply to those on the sanctions lists? In the answer CBI says that where you identify that a sanctioned individual or entity owns or controls the individual/entity with whom you are transacting, you should fully assess the impact of this ownership or control. When conducting this assessment, you should refer to the EU Commission’s guidance on ownership and control. This guidance on ownership/control can be found in EU Best Practices which was updated in 2022.
The Central Bank webpages contain an up to date Financial Sanctions Update 2022 where you can see details of EU and UN Security Council updates. Please also visit the Central Bank's page on changes to the Russia/Ukraine Regulations which contains some useful information . Members must check whether they hold any funds or economic resources for the persons set out in the current sanctions' lists. Please see the page also for where on 20 April 2022 the Central Bank provided information on how credit institutions should report information regarding deposits by certain persons linked to Russia/Belarus that exceed EUR 100,000.
In relation to Fund Service Providers, the Central Bank issued an industry communication to them on 7 March 2022 on effectively managing risks due to the Russian invasion into Ukraine. The letter sets out Central Bank expectations that Fund Service Providers will take timely action, with heightened precautions, to ensure no breaches of the sanctions occur.
In June 2022 the Central Bank issued correspondence to business groups and professional representative bodies including Chartered Accountants Ireland regarding financial sanctions obligations. You can read details of the Central Bank press release and the letter it issued here.
The Central Bank website states that once a person or entity has been sanctioned under EU Financial Sanctions, there is a legal obligation not to transfer funds or make funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to that person or entity.
For general information on sanctions, you can click here to access the Central Bank webpage "Introduction to Financial Sanctions”. The Central Bank also has a Financial Sanctions FAQs Booklet (2015) and while it is published for credit and financial institutions, it may answer some of your general queries in relation to sanctions.
Readers may be interested in the High Court judgment (August 2022) of Sanfey J in the case of Pola Logistics Limited as plaintiff and GTLK Europe DAC, GTLK Malta Four Limited and Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) as defendants. The judgment is available free of charge from the Irish courts service website.
Application was made in the case for specific performance of a contract between the plaintiffs and the defendants (other than CBI). Under EU sanctions the first named defendant was an entity associated with a sanctioned entity. The effect of the designation was that all funds and economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by GTLK Europe DAC had been frozen since 8th April, 2022, and that company was prevented from using any economic resources to obtain funds, goods or services in any way. The plaintiff sought an order of specific performance that it be allowed exercise its contractual entitlement to purchase tug-boats and barges from the defendants so as to allow it to retain the use of the vessels for the purposes of its business.
The first named defendant was also a sanctioned person under US sanctions. For US sanctions purposes the plaintiff claimed it had to wind down its relationship with the first and second named defendants prior to 1st September, 2022 (up to which time there was a licence under the sanctions regime) , or risk breaching sanctions and in the case of EU sanctions regime by 9 December 2022.
Much of the judgment concerned other issues such as the service of proceedings, jurisdiction and choice of law and specific performance but the judge also referred to sanctions issues which may be of interest as the case is one of very few Irish cases (and possibly the only Irish case to date) on the Russian sanctions’ regime.
In the action the plaintiffs sought to compel CBI to exercise its jurisdiction to grant a derogation under EU law ,(Article 5 (1) of EU Council Regulation 269 of 2014) to authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources if certain listed conditions are met. However, during the course of the case the plaintiff accepted the position of the CBI that the derogation process requires an application to, and invocation of, the competent authority’s jurisdiction under that article, rather than court orders seeking to compel the exercise of that jurisdiction. If the specific orders requested were granted (which they were) the plaintiff intended to proceed to apply to the CBI for a derogation. The plaintiff accepted that the transfer of the vessels to the plaintiff pursuant to the order of specific performance would not be possible unless the Central Bank granted that authorisation and the plaintiff accepted that the money would be paid into a frozen bank account, and could not be used without the authorisation of the CBI. The court also said that the exercise by the CBI of its jurisdiction as a competent authority pursuant to Article 5 of the sanctions regulation (Council Regulation EU No.269/2014 ) is entirely a matter for that entity and expressed no view as to how that jurisdiction should be exercised.
Irish Revenue Commissioners
The Revenue Commissioners have published and updated a manual on EU Sanctions in response to the situation in Ukraine. Please click here to access the manual. The manual may be of somewhat limited value as some paragraphs are redacted/not published under FOI legislation. However, the manual states that the relevant unit to contact is the Prohibitions and Restrictions Unit and the contact email is rcpr@revenue.ie.
Revenue has a dedicated website for Ukrainian Nationals which sets out advice for starting a job
https://www.revenue.ie/en/life-events-and-personal-circumstances/moving-to-or-from-ireland/advice-ukrainian-nationals-starting-job-ireland.aspx
In April 2022 Revenue announced concessionary tax treatment of Ukrainian citizens who work remotely in the State for Ukrainian employers. You can read more about this including an e Brief here and an article by Jane Quirke of Grant Thornton in the Institutes news .
In May the Government announced a €400 Recognition Payment for providing accommodation to those fleeing war in Ukraine.
Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DETE)
Workplace Relations Commission
Members should be aware of and adhere to the current trade prohibitions issued by the DETE - see EU Trade Sanctions in Response to Situation in Ukraine - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie). These include those that apply to military-related goods and technology, or financial or technical assistance; and dual use goods and technology.
The Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment has published a Guidance Note: EU Trade Sanctions in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine .The latest version of it is available to access here.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is the competent authority responsible for enforcing trade-related sanctions. Queries regarding trade sanctions should be directed to the Trade Licensing and Control Unit. They can be contacted by email at exportcontrol@enterprise.gov.ie. or by telephone on +353 1 631 2328.
Please also refer to the website of the Workplace Relations Commission which contains information for Ukrainian Nationals on employment rights in Ireland .There is information on the website on employment law in the Ukrainian language and the Russian language.
Department of Finance – Ireland
Please click here for policy information from the Department of Finance on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism. Paragraph 10 contains information relating to sanctions. Members are reminded that all legal and natural persons are bound by the obligations in the sanctions.
Please click here for some Institute news updates on communications from the Irish Department of Finance. See also more detailed information on "Europe and international" sub page.
The Dept of Finance published the booklet Economic and Financial Impacts of War in Ukraine. It was last updated in April 2022.You can access the booklet here.
Department of Foreign Affairs
The Department of Foreign Affairs has information about sanctions here in respect of the situation in Ukraine. See here also for general information about sanctions on the DFA website (See information on domestic guidance at the bottom of the page).
Department of the Taoiseach
The Department of the Taoiseach has established a webpage where there is information for people on arriving in Ireland, accommodation ,social welfare supports, employment, childcare and education healthcare and how people and community groups can help .
The page also has information for businesses on sanctions ,offers of employment and support and sectoral schemes .
Ireland - other information
The Irish Corporate Enforcement Authority recently issued an information note on S385/Companies Act 2014 on the appointment of auditors in the context of Russian sanctions.
These pages are provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages purports to provide professional advice or definitive legal interpretation(s) or opinion(s) on the applicable legislation or legal or other matters referred to in the pages. If the reader is in doubt on any matter in this complex area further legal or other advice must be obtained. While every reasonable care has been taken by the Institute in the preparation of these pages, we do not guarantee the accuracy or veracity of any resource, guidance, information or opinion, or the appropriateness, suitability or applicability of any practice or procedure contained therein. The Institute is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of the resources or information contained in these pages.
Chartered Accountants Ireland can accept no responsibility for the content on any site that is linked to/from the Institute website. Links are provided in good faith for the potential support of members and students.
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