On May 23, 2018, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 received Royal Assent and came partly into force on May 23, 2018. The majority of the provisions of the Act will enter into force on a day appointed by the Secretary of State. The Act will provide a domestic sanctions framework after the U.K. leaves the EU, enabling the U.K. to continue to meet its international obligations and use sanctions as a national security and foreign policy tool.

The Act's provisions empower the U.K. Government to make sanctions regulations to be imposed, where appropriate, to comply with United Nations obligations or other international obligations, to further the prevention of terrorism, for the purposes of national security or international peace and security, or to further foreign policy objectives. The Act also empowers the U.K. Government to create, amend and update regulations for the detection, investigation and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and for the purposes of implementing standards published by the Financial Action Task Force relating to combating threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 is available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/13/pdfs/ukpga_20180013_en.pdf.

Updated Guidance on Monetary Penalties for Financial Sanctions Breaches Published by UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation

On May 21, 2018, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published an updated version of its guidance on monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions. The guidance was first published in April 2017. The update sets out more detail on OFSI's expectations around voluntary disclosure of breaches of financial sanctions. The chapter on the right of individuals to appeal to the Upper Tribunal has also been updated.

The updated guidance is available at:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/708991/Monetary_Penalties_Guidance_web.pdf

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