The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued guidance for entities operating within the country’s maritime sector.

The guidance highlights a number of illicit and suspicious shipping practices that are deployed to evade sanctions, emphasises the importance of adopting due diligence and compliance measures and provides details of the financial sanctions imposed by the EU and the UN against North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria. It concludes by outlining OFSI’s enforcement powers in the UK.

Suspicious practices

The guidance says illicit and suspicious shipping practices that are deployed to evade sanctions include using ship to ship transfers to conceal the origin or destination of cargo.

Suspicious practices also include falsifying documentation such as bills of lading or invoices to conceal the origin of the vessel, its goods or its destination, and physically concealing cargo on board a vessel.

Due diligence and compliance

The guidance emphasises the importance of adopting due diligence and compliance measures and provides recommendations for those operating in the maritime sector.

These include having a robust understanding of sanctions regulations when conducting business in high-risk jurisdictions, which includes taking a risk-based approach when conducting enhanced due diligence in order to understand the full range of activity and the persons involved in supply chains.

The guidelines also cover the checking of suspected fraudulent documentation such as letters of credit and bills of lading with the relevant institution or entity to confirm the validity of documents.

Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News

Tags: AML, cargo, Compliance, Due diligence, maritime operators, OFSI, Sanctions, UK