Sanctions and Trade Compliance
Our Sanctions & Trade Compliance Team provides assistance to businesses in all sectors, helping them identify, assess and address sanctions risks, implement sanctions compliance programs and liaising with relevant authorities.
We offer a multijurisdictional advisory service to assess a company's collective sanctions risks from the perspective of US, UK, UN, EU and Norwegian sanctions. We understand that the legal framework on sanctions and export controls is highly complex and rapidly changing. Many different sanctions regimes and several potentially relevant sanctions authorities must be considered by businesses with international operations. Non-compliance with relevant sanctions and export control regimes can have serious consequences.
Our team provides a combination of broad sector and legal expertise, as well as practical experience from roles as in-house counsel and with public authorities, to provide practical advice on how to identify and mitigate sanctions risks.
Our lawyers have practical and comprehensive experience that positions us to help our clients navigate the most challenging issues within trade compliance. We provide advice to companies of all sizes, in a number of jurisdictions and across a range of sectors, supporting them in the identification and management of risks related to trade compliance and sanctions.
We offer
- Comprehensive advice on all matters relating to sanctions and trade compliance
- Multijurisdictional advice – a one-stop-shop for assessing sanctions risks covering US, UK, EU, UN and Norwegian sanctions
- Shipping and sanctions specialists with experience of identifying and handling sanctions risks specific to the shipping sector
- Vessels' trading patterns screening and monitoring, to detect deceptive shipping practices
- Tailormade services for monitoring new developments and updating on relevant sanctions developments
- Advising on sanctions risk exposure and risk mitigating measures
- Enhanced sanctions screening of counterparties
- Conducting company-wide sanctions risk assessments to identify risks and key controls
- Assessing circumvention risks
- Designing and tailoring sanctions compliance programs
- Performing gap-analyses of existing sanctions compliance programs against best practises
- Providing training on sanctions and export control legislation
- Assisting with license applications and requests for guidance from sanctions authorities
- Investigating potential violations of sanctions
- Liaising with relevant sanctions authorities in connection with potential enforcement cases
- Drafting sanction clauses and providing contractual mitigation
- Acting as counsel or experts in sanctions-related disputes and arbitrations
- Conducting and responding to due diligence or sanctions risk assessments in M&A activities
- Providing assistance in civil or criminal proceedings relating to (actual or potential) sanctions violations
Sanctions Alerts
We also issue WR Sanctions Alerts, in which we provide updates on material developments in sanctions regimes implemented by the US, UK, UN, EU and Norway.
See our other Compliance areas
Compliance Update
In our Compliance Update we provide our readers with information and updates on current topics in ethics, compliance and crisis management. Enjoyable reading!
Contributors to Chambers and Partners Practice Guide on Sanctions
Tine Vigmostad and Håkon Stalheim Meldahl from our compliance team have written the Norwegian chapter in the Chambers and Partners Sanctions 2024. The guide provides an overview of the sanctions in Norway, including an overview of regulatory field and recent and future legal developments.
Legal 500:
“The firm’s sanctions offering, hailed by clients as ‘by far the best in Norway’, has recently seen further increases in sanctions and export control-related instructions, a core area of expertise for the firm”
Read our articles on Sanctions and Trade Compliance
Invitation to the Sanctions and Money Laundering Day 2025
On February 13, we are opening the doors of the National Museum in Oslo for the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Day - featuring authorities, experts, and key industry players on stage. The seminar will also be streamed live.
The US introduces extensive measures targeting the Russian energy sector and oil revenues
On Friday 10 January 2025, the US introduced extensive measures targeting the Russian energy sector and Russia's oil revenues. The measures include the designation of 183 vessels, many of which are deemed to be part of the Russian shadow fleet, as well as oil traders, oilfield service providers, marine insurance companies and energy officials. The UK also joined the US in sanctioning the two major Russian oil producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.
Updates on latest sanctions developments in the Iranian and Venezuelan sanctions programmes
In this sanctions alert, we seek to summarise some recent developments relating to US and EU sanctions.
