More than 550 participants, representatives of private sector entities and professionals from the EU Member States, joined the Workshop “Enhancing effectiveness of implementation of EU sanctions by the private sector” which was organised on 24 April 2023 in Riga, Latvia, by the Council of Europe’s Economic Crime and Cooperation Division in cooperation with the European Commission, Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the State Revenue Service of Latvia. 

The Workshop aimed at supporting banking sector, payment institutions, trust and company service providers (TCSPs), virtual assets service providers (VASPs), legal professionals and other private sector representatives across the EU in practical implementation of EU sanctions’ regulatory requirements, as one of the follow-up outreach activities within the  Technical Support Instrument (TSI) project “Effective and uniform implementation of the sanctions’ regime in EU member states”. 

Representatives of the Latvian State Revenue Service and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia presented the requirements for effective implementation of EU sanctions and the risks and typologies of potential circumvention of EU sanctions in Latvia. The participants further benefited from the presentations delivered by the Council of Europe experts on the different topics related to practical implementation of EU regulatory requirements across the EU Member States and broader. For instance, in a specific session participants discussed payment institutions’ good practices and challenges in implementing EU international sanctions. Furthermore, since the private sector is facing significant practical challenges when implementing sanctions in cases with complex ownership structures, a separate session was dedicated to this topic as well, with a particular focus on the role of gatekeepers and related sanctions evasion risks. Finally, the participants benefitted from a presentation on risks and benefits of new technologies regarding effective implementation of EU international sanctions. All presentations were followed by fruitful discussions and exchanges, mainly regarding practical implementation of the requirements. 

This event was followed by another Workshop organised for the National Competent Authorities (NCAs) from across the EU to discuss the impact of the new technologies on effective implementation of EU sanctions. 

The activity was organised within the framework of the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) initiative on “Effective and uniform implementation of the sanctions’ regime in EU Member States”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe.