Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018

Valid from 22/11/2018

35 Directions under section 34: further provision U.K.

(1) An appropriate Minister may not under section 34 direct that a person's name is to be treated as added to an EU sanctions list except where that Minister—

(a) has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is an involved person (see subsections (2) and (3) below), and

(b) considers that it is appropriate to give the direction, having regard to—

(i) the purpose of the EU provision which relates to persons in that list (see subsections (4) and (5) below), and

(ii) the likely significant effects of the direction on the person to whom it relates (as they appear to that Minister to be on the basis of the information that the Minister has).

(2) In subsection (1)(a) “an involved person” means a person who—

(a) is or has been involved in an activity which is specified, by regulations made by an appropriate Minister, in relation to the list in question,

(b) is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by a person who is or has been so involved,

(c) is acting on behalf of or at the direction of a person who is or has been so involved, or

(d) is a member of, or associated with, a person who is or has been so involved.

(3) An activity may not be specified by regulations under subsection (2)(a) unless the appropriate Minister making the regulations considers that specifying the activity is appropriate having regard to the purpose of the EU provision which relates to persons in the list in question.

(4) In subsections (1) and (3) any reference to the “purpose” of any EU provision is to such purpose, or purposes, as may be prescribed in relation to that provision by regulations made by an appropriate Minister.

(5) Any purpose prescribed under subsection (4) must be a purpose that it is reasonable to assume was the purpose (or one of the purposes) of the provision in question.

(6) Regulations under subsection (2)(a) which specify an activity may also make provision as to the meaning, for the purposes of subsection (2) as it applies in relation to the list in question, of a person's—

(a) being involved in the specified activity;

(b) being “owned or controlled directly or indirectly by” another person;

(c) being “associated with” another person.

(7) Regulations made by an appropriate Minister may make provision as to the steps to be taken as regards notification and publicity where a direction is given under section 34.

(8) Regulations made under subsection (7) must, in relation to any case where a direction under section 34 has been given, require the appropriate Minister who gave the direction (“the Minister”) to take without delay such steps as are reasonably practicable—

(a) to inform the person to whom it relates that the direction has been given, and

(b) where the direction is under section 34(3)(a), to include with that information a brief statement of the matters that the Minister knows, or has reasonable grounds to suspect, in relation to that person which have led the Minister to give the direction.

(9) The regulations may authorise the statement required by virtue of subsection (8)(b) to exclude matters where the Minister considers that they should be excluded—

(a) in the interests of national security or international relations,

(b) for reasons connected with the prevention or detection of serious crime in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, or

(c) in the interests of justice,

(but the regulations may not authorise the Minister to provide no such statement).

(10) The regulations need not require a person to be notified of an intention to make a direction under section 34.

(11) In this section—

• “EU sanctions list” has the same meaning as in section 34;

• “EU provision” means—

  (a)

  a provision of retained EU sanctions law (within the meaning of section 34), or

  (b)

  a provision of an instrument made by the Council of the European Union.