Policy background Sanctions enforcement: monetary penalties
Sanctions are an important foreign policy and national security tool. The UK autonomous sanctions framework enables the Government to use targeted sanctions to deter and disrupt malign activity and demonstrate our readiness to defend international norms. The UK has over 35 different geographic and thematic sanctions regimes. Sanctions are one instrument used to complement and reinforce others as part of a wider UK response. Enforcement of UK sanctions is particularly important in the context of the unprecedented number of Russia sanctions the Government has announced in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
	The Government uses a range of methods to enforce UK sanctions, one of which is the imposition of civil monetary penalties (CMPs) which are fines that are levied by the Government and do not require a criminal prosecution. To date, the Government has imposed CMPs in respect of breaches of financial sanctions using powers in the Policing and Crime Act 2017.
	This section will amend section 17 of, and insert a new section 17A in, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA) to provide expressly that sanctions regulations may make provision for enforcement of sanctions breaches through the imposition of CMPs. This clarification will therefore allow for wider use of CMPs in response to sanctions breaches.
	This Act makes amendments to both the Policing and Crime Act 2017 and SAMLA.