EU exporter
You are an EU exporter shipping goods to a third country
The responsibility for checking the goods sits with you, not with the customs agency or the counterparty. In a criminal case the question is not whether you knew, but whether you can show what you checked and when.
What is required of you
- Checking the CN code across the goods regimes: Russia 833/2014, Belarus 765/2006, North Korea 2017/1509, Iran 267/2012, plus the territorial regimes for Crimea and the four Ukrainian oblasts.
- The No Russia clause (Art. 12g) in the contract for goods from Annexes XI, XX, XXXV and XL when selling to a third country other than a partner country.
- A diversion risk assessment (Art. 12gb) for common high priority items, documented and kept up to date, including in non-EU subsidiaries.
- Checking the wind-down period if the contract predates the ban. The window is written into the paragraph of the article and differs between Russia and Belarus.
What to keep in the file
- A dated CN code check report, with the consolidated version of the act and a statement of what was not checked.
- The contract with the No Russia clause and the end-user statement.
- A record of the risk assessment: who the customer is, where the goods actually go, what raised doubts and how they were resolved.
Frequently asked questions
Does the customs agency check sanctions for me?
The agency verifies the declaration and the classification, but responsibility for the transaction being sanctions-compliant stays with the exporter. Courts have ruled against exporters who pointed at their agency.
The code is not in the annexes. Can I ship?
No match does not mean "allowed". Check a higher level of the code, the persons and entities lists, the end use and dual-use controls. Our document says this explicitly, because that is the truth about the scope of the check.