Sanctions are a growing problem on the desk of every
international trading business and bank. The introduction by the
European Union (EU) of wide-ranging sanctions against Iran in 2010
signalled the start of a significant growth in compliance concerns.
This year the US Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act
of 2012 (ITRA) escalated those issues by widening the pool of
affected parties and confirming a clear trend for governments to
use sanctions as a foreign policy tool and the financial services
sector as their enforcement arm.
To facilitate debate around the issues raised by international
sanctions and to shed some light on current experience, Clyde &
Co's commodities team held a seminar in London on 13 November
2012 attended by around 50 commodity producers, intermediaries,
insurers and bankers.
