OFSI General Licences

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) of the HM Treasury has published a revised General License (INT/2022/1875276) under Regulation 64 of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/855). The license permits financial institutions and payment service providers to make payments that would otherwise be prohibited by these regulations under regulations 11 through 17A.
Specifically, under this license, financial institutions and payment services providers may make payments to and receive payments from designated civilian telecommunication providers or news media service providers under existing contracts and obligations. They can also make payments to third parties necessary for these contracts, including designated credit or financial Institutions.
Additionally, institutions and payment service providers may engage in such payments, if it is for the provision or receiving telecommunications by third parties provided that he or she is not a designated individual him or herself under Regulation 5 of the Russia Regulations.
A list of sanctioned telecommunication and news media service providers towards which the license applies is outlined in the general license.
This latest revised version
– extends the application date of the license up to May 30, 2026;
– clarifies that the license applies to PJSC MegaFon and its subsidiary MegaFon Tajikistan and to Digital Invest Limited Liability Company (Digital
Invest); and
– removes several entities from the list of designated news media services.