Overview
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 government with the power to impose thematic sanctions 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.
Under the AS Laws, there are strict liability criminal penalties which apply to corporations and no 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.
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.
More detailed information about the sanctions measures imposed by a particular sanctions regime is on the sanctions regime pages (below).
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
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 Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website says that it usually takes 6-8 weeks to process a Pax application, but “you should allow 3 months”, 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.
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.
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.
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
-
Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd v Queensland Alumina Ltd [2024] FCAFC 142
-
Tigers Realm Coal Limited v Commonwealth of Australia [2024] FCA 340
-
Deripaska v Minister for Foreign Affairs [2024] FCA 62
-
Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd v Queensland Alumina Ltd [2024] FCA 43
-
Alexander Abramov v Minister for Foreign Affairs (No 2) [2023] FCA 1099
-
R v Choi (No 9) [2021] NSWSC 71
-
R v AA (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 1892
-
R v BB [2019] NSWSC 1054
