Cyprus misses EU deadline as long-awaited sanctions unit stalls

Cyprus has failed to meet the European Union deadline for establishing a long-awaited national sanctions enforcement authority after objections from the Cyprus Bar Association forced lawmakers to delay the adoption of the necessary package of laws.

The Bar Association opposed the legislation during a parliamentary committee hearing on May 12, arguing that it violated Cyprus' constitution by allowing the unit to operate in English, which is not an official language of the country. The association also said the legal profession would be effectively excluded from participating in anti-money laundering measures.

“They have kicked us out of the body responsible for sanctions,” lawyer Pantelis Christofides, who represents the Bar Association, said during the hearings, according to Cyprus Mail.

The new body, which will merge existing sanctions bodies into a single structure under the Ministry of Finance, is a response to an EU directive from April 2024 that requires member states to criminalize sanctions violations in national law. In the directive, which aims to harmonize member states' responses to sanctions violators and those who facilitate them, the EU stated that lawyers are required to report sanctions violations when providing services to clients. The Ministry of Finance initially planned to implement the changes by the end of 2024.

Source: ICIJ