Considering the EU Commission's Proposal on its Directive for Criminal Penalties for Violations of Restrictive Measures in the Context of a Comparative Analysis With US Sanctions Enforcement

The recent European Union (EU) proposal to harmonize criminal penalties for sanctions violations across its member states purports to be an ambitious initiative to create a consistent approach to sanctions enforcement across the Union. However, the proposal falls short of the reform needed to achieve this objective. This is partly attributable to the EU Commission’s restrained couching of the proposal as Directive, but more a function of the inherent confederate restraints built in to the EU’s constitutional treaties.This paper explores the proposal in detail and draws out its shortcomings by comparing it with the legal framework within which United States sanctions civil and criminal enforcement operates