Overview
Thank you to Johnson Winter Slattery for their help with these pages.
Australia is a UN member state and implements UN sanctions via the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945.
Australia imposes its own sanctions in the form of restrictions on trade and commercial activities, asset freezes and travel bans via the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 and Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011 (the AS Laws).
The AS Laws provide the Australian Government with the power to impose:
- sanctions against specific countries, prohibiting the provision of certain goods and services to the country (or part of a country) subject to the sanctions measures;
- thematic sanctions against persons or entities, which include threats to international peace and security, malicious cyber activity, serious violations or serious abuses of human rights or activities that undermine good governance or the rule of law, wherever they occur in the world; and
- targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against “designated persons”.
No monetary amount can be directly or indirectly made available to, or for the benefit of, a designated person (or entity) irrespective of the level of shareholding held, directly or indirectly, by a designated person in any entity in the supply chain. Designations are on the Federal Register of Legislation and identified on the Consolidated List.
Under the AS Laws, there are strict liability criminal penalties which apply to corporations.
The Australian Government is currently considering proposed reforms to Australia’s sanctions laws following a review conducted in 2023. A Report was published following the review which identifies stakeholder views on areas of reform, including clarifying key terms, streamlining the sanctions framework (including with respect to granting of permits) and introducing a humanitarian exemption. No proposed drafting for the reforms has yet been published.
Australia imposes export controls on defence and dual-use goods and technologies via the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958, Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956, Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act 1995, and Defence Trade Controls Act 2012.
National Competent Authorities
The Australia Sanctions Office (ASO) in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is the Australian sanctions regulator (together with the Australian Federal Police who investigate and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions who prosecutes Commonwealth offences) and the Department of Home Affairs is responsible for implementing visa restrictions in respect of travel bans listed under Australian sanctions law.
The ASO supervises all applications for sanctions permits. Such permits may only be granted in limited circumstances and the relevant Minister must, in all circumstances, be satisfied the grant of a permit would be in Australia’s “national interest”.
Defence Export Controls regulates the export and supply of military and dual-use goods and technologies.
Legislation
- Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011
- Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011
- Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958
- Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956
- Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act 1995
- Defence Trade Controls Act 2012
Regimes
- Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions regimes
- Counter-Terrorism (UNSC 1373) sanctions regime
- Specified Ukraine regions sanctions regime
- Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) sanctions regime
- Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia sanctions regime
- Guinea-Bissau sanctions regime
- Iran sanctions regime
- Iraq sanctions regime
- ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions regimes
- Lebanon sanctions regime
- Libya sanctions regime
- Mali sanctions regime
- Myanmar sanctions regime
- Russia sanctions regime
- Serious corruption sanctions regime
- Serious violation or serious abuses of human rights sanctions regime
- Significant cyber incidents sanctions regime
- Somalia sanctions regime
- Sudan and South Sudan sanctions regimes
- Syria sanctions regime
- The Taliban sanctions regime
- Ukraine sanctions regime
- Yemen sanctions regime
- Zimbabwe sanctions regime
Sanctions Lists
Guidance
Australian sanctions law: a quick guide (Parliament)
Australia Sanctions Office Guidance
- Sanctions Compliance Toolkit
- Sanctions Compliance Policy
- Sanctions Risk Assessment Tool
- Digital Currency Exchange Sector
- Sanctions Compliance for Australian Government Agencies and Employees
- Dealing with assets owned or controlled by designated persons or entities
- Financial transactions involving designated persons and entities
- Import, purchase or transport of firearms and other ‘arms or related materials’ from sanctioned countries
- Reporting a sanctions contravention
- Sanctions compliance for universities
- Cyber sanctions
- Common High Priority Items for Russia
- Australian export sector, Russian evasion methods
- Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Information Technology (IT) Workers
- Advisory from the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Tasks Force – Russian Sanctions Evasion
- Oil Price Cap (OPC) Compliance and Enforcement Alert
Licensing
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, assisted by the Australian Sanctions Office, may grant “sanctions permits” to authorise activities that would otherwise be prohibited by Australian sanctions law. The permit may be subject to conditions.
Different sanctions regimes impose different criteria for the grant of a permit. For UN sanctions regimes, the Minister may need to notify or receive the approval of the UNSC before granting a sanctions permit.
Applications for sanctions permits must be made through the Australian sanctions portal Pax and should include relevant information about the proposed activity, for example a detailed description of the goods or services involved, the end use of the goods or services, information on the end users, and the intended transport pathway for the goods or services.
The DFAT website advises that an applicant “should allow a minimum of 3 months” for the process of a permit application, especially for complex activities and activities in high-risk countries. The length of time for a permit is decided on a case-by-case basis. Permits are usually issued for a period of 180 days.
There are a limited number of general permits, which constitute a blanket authorisation for the activities described in the permit, and apply to the class of persons described in the permit as the “permit holder”. This includes a Legal Services Permit, which authorises certain activities which would otherwise be sanctioned in connection with legal services (including settlement of legal proceedings and payment of legal costs). The general permits that previously authorised the provision of financial assistance and financial services in relation to Russian oil and refined petroleum products under certain price caps have been revoked.
Enforcement
Contravening a sanctions measure or permit is punishable for individuals by up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine (as from 1 July 2023) of the greater of $782,500 or three times the value of the transaction, and for corporations, a fine the greater of $3.13m or three times the value of the transaction.
Giving false or misleading information in connection with the administration of a sanction law is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine (as from 1 July 2023) of $782,500.
Prosecutions
In R v BB [2019] NSWSC 1054, the NSW Supreme Court held that for prosecutions under the AS Laws, the prosecutor must establish: (1) an offender intended to make a supply; (2) with knowledge of the goods and what they consisted of (relevant to any classification of the goods); (3) with knowledge that the direct or indirect supply was to transfer goods to a designated jurisdiction (Iran); and (4) the offender was reckless as to whether the supply was of sanctioned goods or was not authorised under the AS Laws.
In R v AA (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 1892, Ms AA (a pseudonym) was sentenced to imprisonment for a fixed term of two years, to be served by way of an intensive correction order in the community for providing sanctioned goods and/or services to Iranian entities through the use of third party intermediaries.
In R v Choi (No 10) [2021] NSWSC 891, Mr Choi was sentenced to imprisonment for a fixed term of three years and six months for providing sanctioned services to North Korean entities.
Judicial Review of Designations
In Alexander Abramov v Minister for Foreign Affairs (No. 2) [2023] FCA 1099, the Federal Court of Australia upheld the second designation of Mr Abramov in the context of its finding that a person or entity can be designated even where that person has ceased the relevant activity or function, provided the activity or function remains of economic or strategic significance to the sanctioned country.
In Deripaska v Minister for Foreign Affairs [2024] FCA 62, Mr Deripaska sought judicial review of his designation on grounds including lack of procedural fairness. The Federal Court dismissed his application and his appeal of this decision in Deripaska v Minister for Foreign Affairs [2025] FCAFC 36, including on the basis that the Minister’s power to designate was not misunderstood and she did not fail to understand that she had discretion.
As a result of these proceedings, the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Act 2024 came into effect on 9 April 2024, to clarify that sanctions can be validly imposed on the basis of previous conduct or circumstances and where the Minister did not exercise discretion in imposing sanctions.
Interpretation of sanctions laws
In Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd v Queensland Alumina Ltd [2024] FCA 43, the Federal Court considered a number of elements in the interpretation of “sanctioned supplies” and “dealing with designated persons or entities”, including emphasising the broad application of the composite phrase “directly or indirectly”, which was found to embrace any number of degrees of remoteness of causation and extend to consequences and outcomes which involve additional steps or actions in a causal chain. The broad interpretation of the application of the autonomous sanctions laws was upheld on appeal in Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd v Queensland Alumina Ltd [2024] FCAFC 142. The High Court of Australia refused special leave to appeal on 6 March 2025, see Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd v Queensland Alumina Ltd [2025] HCA Disp 51.
In Tigers Realm Coal Ltd v Commonwealth of Australia [2024] FCA 340 the Federal Court confirmed that AS Laws extend to the operations of foreign subsidiaries of Australian companies, even where the sanctioned activity is not occurring in Australia.
Export controls
Legislation
Defence Trade Controls Act 2012
Defence Trade Controls Regulations 2013
Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act 1995
Lists
Defence and Strategic Goods List (DSGL)
Guidance
Judgments
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Deripaska v Minister for Foreign Affairs [2025] FCAFC 36
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Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd v Queensland Alumina Ltd [2024] FCAFC 142
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Tigers Realm Coal Limited v Commonwealth of Australia [2024] FCA 340
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Deripaska v Minister for Foreign Affairs [2024] FCA 62
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Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd v Queensland Alumina Ltd [2024] FCA 43
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Alexander Abramov v Minister for Foreign Affairs (No 2) [2023] FCA 1099
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R v Choi (No 9) [2021] NSWSC 71
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R v AA (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 1892
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R v BB [2019] NSWSC 1054
