Background

1. Financial sanctions legislation applicable in the UK requires that all funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by a designated person must be frozen. Under this legislation the Treasury, through its Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), can request information you may possess for the purpose of, among other things, monitoring compliance with the legislation.

Frozen Asset Reporting (2019)

2. Every year the Treasury carries out a review to update our records to reflect any changes to these assets during the reporting period. As part of this review, the Treasury requires all persons that hold or control funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held, or controlled by a designated person, to provide a report to us with the details of these assets. If you possess this information you are requested to complete such a report and submit it to OFSI by Friday 11 October 2019.

3. Your report should include details of all funds or economic resources frozen in the UK as well as those overseas where these funds or economic resources are subject to UK financial sanctions legislation. Accounts blocked solely by other national authorities (e.g. OFAC) do not need to be reported to us. Your report to OFSI should include the value of all such assets as at close of business on Monday 30 September 2019. For a general description of what should be reported please see the Annex to this Notice.

4. All completed reports should be emailed to ofsi@hmtreasury.gov.uk using the template on the GOV.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-frozen-asset-review-and-reporting- form

5. There is no need to provide a nil return to OFSI if you do not hold or control funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held, or controlled by a designated person. However, if you submitted a report last year (other than a nil return) and no longer hold those assets, please submit a nil return.

What you should do now

6. You should identify all of the funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by designated persons that are held or controlled by you. You should report all identifying information concerning those funds or economic resources, along with their value as at 30 September 2019, to OFSI no later than 11 October 2019.

7. You should ensure that one person in your organisation is responsible for collating and sending in your return to avoid duplication.

8. Failure to comply with financial sanctions legislation or seeking to circumvent its provisions is a criminal offence. Such conduct could lead to either a criminal conviction or civil or administrative action by OFSI. This might include the imposition of a monetary penalty of up to either £1 million or 50% of the monetary value of the breach, whichever is greater. Guidance on OFSI’s enforcement can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monetary-penalties-for-breaches-of-financial- sanctions

9. If you have a question regarding this exercise you should contact OFSI immediately by emailing: ofsi@hmtreasury.gov.uk.

Ongoing compliance

10. Separately to the above, you are required on an ongoing basis to:

I. check whether you hold or control any funds or economic resources belonging to, owned, held, or controlled by the persons listed on the Treasury’s Consolidated List of asset freeze targets;

II. if yes to (i) above, freeze such funds or economic resources;

III. refrain from dealing with the funds or economic resources or making the funds or

economic resources available to, or for the benefit of, such persons unless licensed by

OFSI;

IV. report any findings to OFSI, together with any additional information that would

facilitate compliance with the legislation; and

V. provide any information concerning the frozen funds or economic resources of

designated persons that OFSI may request. Information reported to OFSI may be passed on to other regulatory authorities or law enforcement.

11. Your reporting obligations to OFSI are set out in Chapter 5 of OFSI’s guide to financial sanctions: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-faqs.

12. You should not wait for the reporting deadline above to report newly frozen funds or economic resources to OFSI. All newly frozen funds or economic resources must be reported immediately.

Data Protection

13. Please note that all information reported to OFSI will be handled in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and/or the Data Protection Act 2018.

Further Information

14. For more information please see OFSI’s guide to financial sanctions: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-faqs.

Enquiries

15. Non-media enquiries, reports and licence applications should be addressed to:

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation HM Treasury

1 Horse Guards Road

London

SW1A 2HQ

Phone: 020 7270 5454

E-mail: ofsi@hmtreasury.gov.uk

16. Media enquiries about how financial sanctions are implemented in the UK should be

addressed to the Treasury Press Office on 020 7270 5238.

17. Media enquiries about the sanctions measures themselves should be addressed to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Press Office on 020 7008 3100.

Link:

OFSI Notice