Several EU countries refuse to impose fine for failure to provide data on Russian assets

Over a dozen EU countries have led a pushback against proposed fines for failing to meet reporting obligations on the whereabouts of Russian state assets, forcing the European Commission to drop its plan for the penalties, Report informs referring to Politico.

The proposal is part of the EU’s 10th sanctions package against the Kremlin, which the Commission is trying to get approved to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, falling on Friday. Unanimous backing from the bloc's countries would be needed.

The Commission’s goal is to map Russia’s frozen assets, including what portion of the nearly $300 billion in Russian foreign reserves that are frozen in G7 and EU countries is held in the bloc, where, and by whom.

This mapping exercise would be the first step in ongoing discussions on how to leverage these assets to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

The Commission proposed introducing sweeping obligations on “natural and legal persons, entities and bodies” to report on the whereabouts, market value and type of funds belonging to sanctioned entities, including the Central Bank of Russia, which have been frozen by national authorities. It would also cover those who should have been frozen but haven’t been, and funds that were “subject to any move, transfer, alteration, use of, access to” in the two weeks prior to their listing, according to draft sanction proposals seen by POLITICO.

Failure to do so could result in hefty fines of up to 10 percent of global annual turnover for legal entities and €50,000 for individuals who willingly or negligently fail to report this information. The Commission would also like to impose daily fines of 10 percent of daily global turnover or €5,000 in case of individuals to compel asset holders to cooperate.

A group of 13 countries - including Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Latvia, Malta and Portugal - raised objection to the proposal.

A number of them suggested taking the whole issue out of the 10th sanctions package, holding technical discussions, and returning to the issue in the future. No one is opposing the aim of having more clarity on these assets, diplomats said.