The UK has today (15/03/22) announced new economic sanctions against Russia.

The new sanctions will deny Russia and Belarus access to Most Favoured Nation tariffs for hundreds of their exports and ban UK exports of high-end luxury goods to both countries. The full press release can be viewed here.

Please note – the press release refers to white fish, but we have been informed by Defra that it will be ALL fish from Russia which fall under the commodity chapter codes 03 and 16. However, what is still unclear is whether that means fish directly from Russia only or fish of Russian origin coming via, for example China, Germany, Poland.

The timing of these new sanctions, which impose 35% tariff on top of any existing tariff, is also to be confirmed. We are told that regulation will come into force sometime next week after it has been laid in Parliament, but a definite date is yet to be communicated. We are also unsure at what point the sanctions will be imposed – at the time goods are customs cleared or will it be at the ‘stroke of midnight’ meaning anything still on the water will become liable.

The EU have already announced a barrage of sanctions which will come into effect once published in the EU Official Journal later today. We are not sure as yet if this will align with the UK approach and include tariffs on Russian goods.

In addition to the above, UK Export Finance has announced it will no longer issue any new guarantees, loans and insurance for exports to Russia and Belarus, whilst retaining £3.5 billion of financial support for trade to Ukraine. You can view the press release here.

Upcoming webinars:

HMG officials are hosting two webinars for businesses about the recent changes to UK sanctions relating to Russia.

• UK Sanctions relating to Russia: Briefing by UK Government, Thursday 17 March, 13:00 GMT
  The webinar will cover; sanctions legislation overview; new sanctions measures: financial, trade and transport; individual and entity designations; and humanitarian issues. Please register via Eventbrite.
• UK sanctions against Russia, Thursday 24 March, 14:00 – 15:30 GMT
  The webinar will cover; the scope of sanctions, scope and application of trade sanctions; financial sanctions: restrictions and general licenses; the Export Support Service and enforcement of trade sanctions. Further details can be found here, and you can register here.

Please do share details of these webinars and announcements with your networks as appropriate. DIT has tweeted, should you wish to share via your own channels.

A reminder – businesses and traders with questions relating to trading with Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus can submit their enquiries to DIT’s Export Support Service by visiting https://www.gov.uk/ask-export-support-team, or calling the helpline using the number 0300 303 8955.