Explanatory Statement

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Foreign Affairs

Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011

Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons – Ukraine) Amendment List 2017

The Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011 (the Regulations) commenced on 15 December 2011.  The purpose of the Regulations is to facilitate the conduct of Australia’s relations with certain countries, and with specific entities or persons outside Australia, through the imposition of autonomous sanctions in relation to those countries, or targeting those entities or persons.

Paragraph 6 (1) (a) of the Regulations authorises the Minister for Foreign Affairs (the Minister), by legislative instrument, to designate a person or entity on the basis that the person or entity is mentioned in an item of the table in regulation 6.  The purpose of such a designation is to subject the designated person or entity to targeted financial sanctions.  The designated person or entity becomes the object of the prohibition in regulation 14 (which prohibits directly or indirectly making an asset available to, or for the benefit of, a designated person or entity, other than as authorised by a permit granted under regulation 18).  An asset owned or controlled by a designated person or entity is a “controlled asset”, subject to the prohibition in regulation 15 (which requires a person who holds a controlled asset to freeze that asset, by prohibiting that person from either using or dealing with that asset, or allowing it to be used or dealt with, or facilitating the use of or dealing with it, other than as authorised by a permit granted under regulation 18).

Paragraph 6 (1) (b) of the Regulations authorises the Minister, by legislative instrument, to declare a person for the purpose of preventing the person from travelling to, entering or remaining in Australia on the basis that the person is mentioned in an item of the table in regulation 6.

In June 2014, the Foreign Minister designated and declared 50 persons and designated 11 entities for the purpose of paragraph 6(1) of the Regulations on the basis that they were mentioned in an item of the table in regulation 6, that is: a person or entity that the Minister is satisfied is responsible for, or complicit in, the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Regulation 9 of the Regulations effectively provides that these designations and declarations would cease to have effect on the third anniversary of the day in which the designation or declaration took effect unless declared to continue to have effect.  Section 3 of the Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons – Ukraine) Amendment List 2017 (the Amendment List) contains the Minister’s declaration under subregulation 9(3) that the designations and declarations of the following persons that were originally designated and declared in June 2014 continue to have effect:

1. Serhiy Valeriyovich AKSYONOV

1. Oleg Yevgenyvich BELAVANTSEV
2. Deniz Valentinovich BEREZOVSKIY
3. Evgeni Viktorovich BUSHMIN
4. Aleksei Mikhailovich CHALIY
5. Vladimir Michailovich DZHABAROV
6. Andrei Alexandrovich FURSENKO
7. Aleksandr Viktorovich GALKIN
8. Igor Vsevolodovich GIRKIN; also known as Igor STRELKOV
9. Sergey Yur’yevich GLAZYEV
10. Alexei Alexeyevich GROMOV
11. Sergei Borisovich IVANOV
12. Andrei Aleksandrovich KLISHAS
13. Volodomyr Andriyovych KONSTANTYNOV
14. Yuri Valentinovich KOVALCHUK
15. Olga Fedorovna KOVITIDI
16. Dmitry Nikolayevich KOZAK
17. Vladimir Igorevich KOZHIN
18. Mikhail Grigorevich MALYSHEV
19. Valentina Ivanovna MATVIYENKO
20. Viktor Volodymyrovich MEDVEDCHUK
21. Valery Kirillovich MEDVEDEV
22. Sergei Mikhailovich MIRONOV
23. Yelena Borisovna MIZULINA
24. Sergey Yevgenyevich NARYSHKIN
25. Viktor Alekseevic OZEROV
26. Vyacheslav Vladimirovich PONOMARYOV
27. Denis Vladimirovich PUSHILIN
28. Aleksei PUSHKOV
29. Dmitry Olegovich ROGOZIN
30. Arkady Borisovich ROTENBERG
31. Boris Borisovich ROTENBERG
32. Nikolai Ivanovich RYZHKOV
33. Oleg Genrikhovich SAVELYEV
34. Anatoliy Alekseevich SIDOROV
35. Leonid Eduardovich SLUTSKIY
36. Vladislav Yur’yevich SURKOV
37. Rustam Ilmirovich TEMIRGALIEV
38. Gennady  Nikolayevich TIMCHENKO
39. Aleksandr Borisovich TOTOONOV
40. Sergey Pavlovych TSEKOV
41. Aleksandr Viktorovich VITKO
42. Vyacheslav VOLODIN
43. Vladimir Ivanovich YAKUNIN
44. Viktor Fedorovych YANUKOVYCH
45. Sergei Vladimirovich ZHELEZNYAK
46. Pyotr Anatoliyovych ZIMA

Section 4 of the Amendment List contains the Minister’s declaration under subregulation 9(3) that the designations of the following entities that were originally designated in June 2014 continue to have effect:

1. Bank Rossiya

1. Invest Capital Bank
2. SMP Bank
3. Stroygazmontazh; also known as SGM Group
4. Aquanika; also known as Russkoye Vremya LLC
5. Avia Group LLC
6. Avia Group Nord LLC
7. Stroytransgaz Group
8. The Volga Group
9. Transoil
10. Chernomorneftegaz; also known as Crimean Oil and Gas Company

The following persons listed in Schedule 3 of the Amendment List are designated by the Minister for the purposes of paragraph 6(1)(a) of the Regulations and declared by the Minister for the purposes of paragraph 6(1)(b) of the Regulations on the basis that the person is mentioned in item 9 of the table in regulation 6; that is, “a person or entity that the Minister is satsifed is responsible for, or complicit in, the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”:

1. Vladimir USTINOV
2. Dmitry Ovsyannikov
3. Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov
4. Colonel-General Andrei KARTAPOLOV

Section 7 of the Amendment List contains the Minister’s revocation of the designations and declarations of the following deceased persons that were originally designated and declared in June 2014:

1. Igor Dmitrievich Sergun
2. Oleg Evgenevich Pantaleev
3. Yuriy Gennadyevich Zherebtsov

The Amendment List effectively renews the targeted financial sanctions and/or travel restrictions that would otherwise lapse on persons and entities that are responsible for, or complicit in, the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.  The Amendment List effectively applies targeted financial sanctions and travel restrictions to a further four persons that are responsible for, or complicit in, the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. 

The legal framework for the imposition of autonomous sanctions by Australia, of which the Regulations and the Amendment List are part, has been the subject of extensive consultation with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders since May 2010. 

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (the Department) conducts ongoing public consultations, including with the Australian financial services sector and broader business community, in relation to these types of measures. 

The Department undertook public consultation from 27 April to 17 May through its website seeking submissions from interested parties and to afford natural justice to those persons and entities whose designations or declarations were to lapse and are being reviewed.  No submissions were received in response to these public consultations.

Statement of Compatability with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons – Ukraine) Amendment List 2017

The Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons – Ukraine) Amendment List 2017 (the Amendment List) is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

A person or entity subject to designation or declaration under regulation 6 of the Regulations may apply to the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the revocation of those decisions (regulation 11 of the Regulations).  Decisions under both regulations 6 and 11 of the Regulations are judicially reviewable.

The targeted financial sanctions imposed on persons and entities designated under paragraph 6 (1) (a) of the Regulations do not affect the title to any asset owned or controlled by the designated person or entity.  The Minister may grant a permit authorising a use of, or dealing with, an asset that is owned or controlled by a designated person or entity, or authorising another person to provide assets to the designated person or entity, to meet basic expenses, including for foodstuffs, rent or mortgage, medicines or medical treatment, taxes, insurance premiums, public utility charges, reasonable professional fees, reimbursement of expenses associated with the provision of legal services, or fees or service charges that are in accordance with a law in force in Australia for the routine holding or maintenance of frozen assets (regulations 18 and 20 of the Regulations).

Similarly, the Minister may grant a permit if required, to satisfy any pre-existing judicial, administrative or arbitral lien or judgement awarded to another (non-designated) person or entity, as well as to allow payments required under contracts, agreements or obligations made before the date on which the designation became effective.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) undertook public consultation through its website from 27 April to 17 May seeking submissions from interested parties and to afford natural justice to those persons and entities whose designations or declarations were to lapse and were being reviewed.  No submissions were received.

Regulation 19 authorises the Minister to waive the operation of a declaration under regulation 6 so as to allow the person to travel to, enter or remain in Australia, either on the grounds that it would be in the national interest or on humanitarian grounds.