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WQ.95/2022
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE
MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY K.F. MOREL OF ST. LAWRENCE
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 7th MARCH 2022 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 14th MARCH 2022
Question
"Will the Minister advise the Assembly the reasons why, despite having the legal ability to do so, he has chosen not to implement E.U. sanctions against Russia in addition to those U.K. sanctions which have been implemented by the Government of Jersey; and will he state, given the decision not to implement such E.U. sanctions, what risk there is that there are individuals and entities which will not have any Jersey-based assets frozen or their ability to trade via Jersey reduced, despite being subject to E.U. sanctions?"
Answer
The UK has announced a large and strong package of sanctions and other economic measures against Russia in response to its illegal invasion of Ukraine. These actions were coordinated at the highest level by the UK, EU, and USA, sharing intelligence and agreeing a similar set of targeted restrictions designed to have maximum impact and be brought into force by a large number of countries.
The appropriate level at which to manage alignment of UK measures with measures imposed by other jurisdictions is between the UK itself and those jurisdictions with which the UK is in regular dialogue. That is the best way to ensure that sanctions restrictions and other economic measures are appropriately targeted and sanctioned across multiple jurisdictions, including the UK, USA, EU.
Ultimately, it is the UK which is responsible for the island's foreign relations as a matter of international law and Jersey has always been aligned with the UK on sanctions. Jersey is not best placed to make decisions about sanctions outside the UK framework. As I have said before, we do not have the intelligence services of the UK, and we rely on information held by the UK to defend Jersey's interests, as is the established constitutional position. We cannot independently verify whether restrictions introduced by the EU, but not the UK, will have the intended effect.
A majority of the UK sanctions measures announced have already been brought into force, and Jersey has implemented all UK sanctions, either automatically by virtue of the ambulatory provisions of our sanctions legislation, or through additional legislation. Additional measures continue to be announced and brought into force by the UK on a regular basis and, as with all asset-freeze designations made under the UK sanctions framework, new designations will be effective immediately in Jersey.
Wherever there are differences in sanctions restrictions applied by jurisdictions there is the possibility that an individual or entity sanctioned in one jurisdiction is able to carry out actions or transactions that would be prohibited in another. This is why it is important that jurisdictions work together to continue to align as closely as possible with each other on the sanctions they implement. On Friday 11 March, the UK designated 386 members of the Russian Duma for an asset-freeze and we expect amendments to the UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 to come into force today, which will allow the UK to implement hundreds more asset-freeze designations of individuals and entities connected with Russia, including designations already made by the US, EU, Canada, and Australia. This will bring a higher level of alignment between asset-freeze designations in force in Jersey and those in force in other jurisdictions around the world, including in the EU.,