On November 28, the Council of the European Union included circumvention of sanctions imposed by the community into the list of criminal offenses at the level of the entire European Union.
The corresponding decision was approved unanimously by the EU Council.
This was reported by the press service of the Council of the EU.
EU Council Statement
The Council of the EU noted that now the community countries have different definitions of violation of sanctions, which can lead to different degrees of application of restrictive measures and the risk of circumventing them.
It is essential that sanctions are fully implemented, – the statement emphasizes.
It also said the European Commission must now submit a proposal for a directive with minimum rules regarding the definition of criminal offenses and penalties for sanctions violations.
The draft directive must be approved by the EU Council and the European Parliament.
Currently, EU-wide criminal offenses include drug trafficking, human trafficking, sexual exploitation of women and children, arms trafficking, terrorism, corruption, money laundering, organized crime, and cybercrime.
