“The EU Sanctions Assistance Service will offer a comprehensive range of services aimed at helping SMEs comply with EU sanctions worldwide, reducing the risk of non-compliance and associated costs,” the institution announces in a statement.
At a time when the EU has more than 40 global sanctions regimes in place, the European Commission points out that this platform “will provide personalized support to EU SMEs conducting due diligence checks concerning sanctions, at no cost to businesses.”
The aim is to “help European operators avoid the loss of legitimate business opportunities due to uncertainties about their legality,” it adds.
This portal focuses on SMEs because these companies typically have fewer compliance resources than larger enterprises, the justification further explains.
Quoted in the note, the European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Union of Savings and Investments, Maria Luís Albuquerque, notes that “the increasing use of sanctions can complicate SMEs’ activities,” which is why this online assistance desk was created.
The EU’s restrictive measures (commonly known as sanctions) are an essential instrument of the EU’s common foreign and security policy, covering everything from specific individual issues (such as asset freezes) to more comprehensive sectoral approaches (targeting finance, trade, energy, among others).
Among the most well-known sanctions are the 16 packages adopted against Russia since February 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
With rising global tensions, the EU’s restrictive measures are expanding at a faster pace.
The single window is available at eu-sanctions-compliance-helpdesk.europa.eu.
