Authors John W. Boscariol, Martha Harrison, Ljiljana Stanic

As we move into the sixth month of Russia’s illegal invasion and assault on Ukraine, Canada has imposed further sanctions against Russia and Belarus targeting the arms and defence sector. On June 23, 2022, the proposed amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act and Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law) addressed in our May 2, 2022 client alert came into effect, providing the federal government with a new power to seek forfeiture of sanctioned persons’ assets. On June 27, 2022, the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations (“Russia Regulations”) and Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations (“Belarus Regulations”) were further amended to prohibit the export of certain advanced technologies and goods that could be used in the production and manufacturing of weapons by Russia or Belarus. In addition, six senior officials and 46 defence entities were newly listed on Schedule 1 to the Russia Regulations, and 13 senior defence officials and two military entities were newly listed on the Schedule 1 to the Belarus Regulations.

The Belarus Regulations were also updated to add bans on sourcing and supplying luxury goods as well as supplying goods that could be used for the manufacture of weapons. These prohibitions are the same as those imposed under May 18, 2022 amendments to the Russia Regulations.

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