The Ministry for Internal Affairs and Administration has published on its website the first decisions listing individuals and entities subject to restrictive measures (sanctions). The listings and related restrictions are effective as of 27 April 2022.

The national sanctions list was created based on the provisions of the 13 April 2022 Act on special measures to combat support for aggression against Ukraine and to protect national security (the “Act”), which we summarised here.

The list currently comprises 15 individuals and 35 entities with regard to which it was determined, inter alia, that that they have ”close ties to the president of Russia, V. Putin” or subjecting them to sanctions will ”contribute to decreasing the revenue of their controlled entities – thus indirectly decreasing the revenue of the Russian Federation treasury, which finances the aggression against Ukraine.” The list includes, in particular:

• The Gazprom Group;
• Evgenii Kaspersky and the Kaspersky Group;
• Go Sport Poland Group;
• Tatiana Bakalczuk and the Wildberries Group;
• Alexei Mordashov and the Severstal Group;
• Viacheslav Kantor and the ACRON Group;
• SUEK Group.

The full list of sanctioned entities is available here.

With regard to most entities, the following restrictive measures have been imposed:

• freeze of all funds and economic resources;
• ban on provision of funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to the entity;
• ban on participation, knowingly and intentionally, in activities intended to circumvent the above restrictions;
• disqualification from public procurement proceedings;
• for natural persons: entry into the register of foreigners deemed persona non grata on the territory of Poland.

Where a given entity has already been included in the European Union’s sanction list, domestic sanctions only include measures not yet applied at the EU level.

Pursuant to the Act, violations of the restrictive measures imposed on listed entities are subject to administrative fines of up to 20 million PLN and, in the sphere of criminal liability, no fewer than 3 years of imprisonment.

An analysis of the justification provided for each entry indicates that ultimate beneficial ownership of a given entity by e.g. a sanctioned oligarch was an important factor in identifying entities economically or financially tied to individuals deemed as supporting Russia’s actions. This approach appears broader in comparison to criteria derived from best practices at the EU level and may constitute an important clue in interpreting other phrases used by the Act, such as the prohibited “indirect provision of financial resources” to a sanctioned entity. Therefore, diligence is recommended in business partner selection and verification e.g. with regard to ownership structure based on data from the Polish Central Register of Beneficial Owners (Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych).