01.04.2024 15:00
FIU Latvia becomes the competent authority for sanctions implementation in Latvia
As of 1 April 2024, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (FIU) becomes the competent authority for the implementation of international and national sanctions. In terms of sanctions implementation, the FIU has been entrusted with the following main functions: decide on the application of exemptions to sanctions when issuing an authorisation for a transaction or activity;publish information on sanctioned persons, their frozen funds and economic resources in Latvia;keep a sanctions search engine with information on persons included in the national sanctions of Latvia, United Nations and European Union sanctions lists;take binding decisions on the implementation of sanctions where it is established that sanctions have not been implemented, including freezing the funds and economic resources of sanctioned persons;decide on the release of funds and economic resources from freezing if sanctions imposed on a person are revoked or in case of change in property rights or control of the sanctioned persons, but the funds and economic resources are not released;provide explanations, implement informative measures and training on matters related to sanctions implementation;receive and analyse information to be reported to the competent authority of the Member State in accordance with the requirements of the sanctions framework, including information on the implementation of sanctions, on the freezing of funds and economic resources in Latvia, and other information;share information with the European Commission and the competent authorities of the European Union Member States. Competence of the FIU in matters related to sanctions implementation was established by the amendments to the Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia of 8 December 2023, which entered into force on 1 April 2024. The changes are made to ensure that there is a single initial point of contact and a single central authority in matters related to sanctions implementation, thus facilitating and simplifying communication between the private and public sectors. At the same time, it should be noted that in certain cases, other authorities decide on the application of exemptions to sanctions, i.e.: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decides on activities involving goods the circulation of which is governed by the Law on the Circulation of Goods of Strategic Significance and exceptional cases related to humanitarian considerations;the Cabinet of Ministers, upon proposal from the FIU, decides on the application of exemptions to sanctions in special matters related to national security regarding;the Civil Aviation Agency and harbour master decide on exemptions to sanctions in aviation and shipping emergency situations. In addition to the new functions, the FIU remains the competent authority in combating the circumvention of sanctions or a circumvention attempt in the implementation of financial restrictions in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing.
