Note 10 to Article 15.25 of the Code of Administrative Offences provides for the exemption of residents from administrative liability for violating currency legislation due to the application of restrictive measures against Russian citizens 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 are taking unfriendly actions against the Russian Federation.
The exemption applies to liability provided for:
Conducting illegal foreign exchange transactions (Clause 1 of Article 15.25 of the Code of Administrative Offences);
Failure to comply with foreign currency repatriation requirements, including cases where the amount of credits exceeds one hundred million rubles and the acts (omissions) do not constitute a criminal offence (Clauses 4, 5 and 5.2 of Article 15.25 of the Code of Administrative Offences);
Failure to comply with currency obligations under foreign trade contracts (Clauses 4.1 and 4.3 of Article 15.25 of the Code of Administrative Offences).
*The exemption from liability under Part 5.2 of Article 15.25 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation is added to Note 10 by the same law that extends its term.
It should be emphasized that this note exempts from liability only on condition that sanctions measures were applied against the resident. For example, if a European bank, citing sanctions, did not permit foreign currency proceeds to be transferred to a Russian bank in order to comply with repatriation obligations.
At the same time, we note that Note 10 does not exempt a resident from liability for committing illegal foreign exchange transactions unrelated to, or only indirectly related to, sanctions measures. For example, this Note 10 will not exempt a resident from liability for crediting coupons or dividends from today (16 December 2022) to a Swiss bank account. In this case, an exemption can only be obtained under Note 7 (transfer of funds received from an illegal foreign exchange transaction to a Russian bank account within 45 days).
Originally, Note 10 applied only to offences committed before 31 December 2022. However, the law provides for extending its effect until the end of the next year (until 31 December 2023).
At present, the law has been approved by the Federation Council and is awaiting signature by the President of the Russian Federation.
