The Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011 (the Regulations) commenced on 15 December 2011. The purpose of the Regulations is to facilitate the conduct of Australia’s relations with certain countries, and with specific entities or persons outside Australia, through the imposition of autonomous sanctions in relation to those countries, or targeting those entities or persons.
Paragraph 6 (1) (a) of the Regulations authorises the Minister for Affairs (the Minister), by legislative instrument, to designate a person or entity on the basis that the person or entity is mentioned in an item of the table in regulation 6. The purpose of such a designation is to subject the designated person or entity to targeted financial sanctions. The designated person or entity becomes the object of the prohibition in regulation 14 (which prohibits directly or indirectly making an asset available to, or for the benefit of, a designated person or entity, other than as authorised by a permit granted under regulation 18). An asset owned or controlled by a designated person or entity is a “controlled asset”, subject to the prohibition in regulation 15 (which requires a person who holds an asset that is owned or controlled by a designated person or entity to freeze that asset, by prohibiting that person from either using or dealing with that asset, or allowing it to be used or dealt with, or facilitating the use of or dealing with it, other than as authorised by a permit granted under regulation 18).
Paragraph 6 (1) (b) of the Regulations authorises the Minister, by legislative instrument, to declare a person for the purpose of preventing the person from travelling to, entering or remaining in Australia on the basis that the person is mentioned in an item of the table in regulation 6.
Each person listed in Schedule 1 of the Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons – Ukraine) List 2014 (the Ukraine List) is designated by the Minister for the purposes of paragraph 6 (1) (a) of the Regulations on the basis that he or she is mentioned in Item 9 of the table in regulation 6; that is, “a person or entity that the Minister is satisfied is responsible for, or complicit in, the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
The Ukraine List gives effect to autonomous sanctions measures announced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (the Minister) on 19 March and 21 May 2014 in response to the Russian threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The legal framework for the imposition of autonomous sanctions by Australia, of which the Regulations and the Ukraine List are part, has been the subject of extensive consultation with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders since May 2010.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (the Department) conducts ongoing public consultations, including with the Australian financial services sector and broader business community, in relation to these types of measures. Relevant Commonwealth Government departments were consulted prior to and during the drafting of this legislative instrument.
In order to meet the policy objective of prohibiting unauthorised financial transactions involving the persons and entities specified in the Ukraine List, the Department is satisfied that wider consultations beyond those it has already undertaken would be inappropriate (sub-sections 18(1) and (2)(e) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003).
without a sanctions permit. An ‘asset’ is defined broadly to include an asset or property of any kind, whether tangible or intangible, movable or immovable.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs may grant a sanctions permit authorising an activity that would otherwise contravene these prohibitions if:
Australian law prohibits a ‘declared person’ for Ukraine from travelling to, entering or remaining in Australia unless the Minister for Foreign Affairs waives this prohibition.
