Note 10 of Article 15.25 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses (hereinafter referred to as CRFAO) provides for exemption from administrative liability of residents who have violated the requirements of currency legislation in connection with the application of restrictive measures against citizens of the Russian Federation or Russian legal entities by foreign states (territories), state associations and (or) unions and (or) state (interstate) institutions of foreign states or state associations and (or) unions that commit unfriendly actions against the Russian Federation.
The exemption covers the liability provided for:
Illegal currency transactions (Clause 1 of Article 15.25 of CRFAO);
Failure to comply with the conditions for the repatriation of foreign currency, including cases when the amount of deposits exceeds one hundred million rubles and actions (inaction) do not contain a criminally punishable act (paragraphs 4, 5 and 5.2 of Article 15.25 of CRFAO);
Non-fulfillment of currency obligations under foreign trade contracts (clauses 4.1, 4.3 of Article 15.25 of CRFAO).
*exemption from liability provided for in Part 5.2 of Article 15.25 of CRFAO is added to Note 10 by the same law as the extension of the validity period.
It is worth emphasizing that this note exempts from liability only on condition that sanctions have been applied to the resident. For example, if a European bank, referring to sanctions, did not allow the transfer of foreign currency earnings to a Russian bank to comply with repatriation obligations.
In turn, we note that Note 10 does not exempt a resident from liability when committing illegal currency transactions unrelated (or indirectly related) to sanctions actions. For example, the specified note 10 will not exempt a resident from liability when crediting coupons or dividends from today (December 16, 2022) to a Swiss bank account. In this case, the exemption can only be obtained under note 7 (transfer of funds received from an illegal currency transaction to a Russian bank account within 45 days).
Initially, note 10 was only valid for offenses committed before December 31, 2022. However, the law provides for an extension of its validity until the end of next year (until December 31, 2023).
At the moment, the law has been approved by the Federation Council and is awaiting signature by the President of the Russian Federation.