Economic Crime Act Expands UK Sanctions And Unexplained Wealth Order Powers

The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (the Act) came into force on 15 March 2022, introducing a range of measures intended to tackle economic crime. In this briefing, we take a detailed look at the Act's changes to sanctions legislation and the Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) regime.

The Act makes a number of changes to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA), which are intended to facilitate rapid alignment of UK sanctions with those imposed by international partners, and greater flexibility when enacting autonomous sanctions.

The Act also seeks to increase the enforcement of breaches of financial sanctions, as well as the use of UWOs, as part of the Government's efforts to tackle 'dirty money' in the UK.