OREANDA-NEWS  The law on freezing in one day the assets of individuals and legal entities associated with terrorism or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and included in the lists of the UN Security Council has entered into force.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law at the end of June, according to which the period during which the assets of clients of financial organizations should be frozen on the basis of decisions of the UN Security Council was reduced to one day.

Previously, the total time from the moment of the UN Security Council decision to the moment of freezing assets in the Russian Federation was up to three working days, now it will be up to one day. Rosfinmonitoring will also notify financial organizations of such a decision to freeze the transactions of these persons within up to four hours from the moment it is posted on the Security Council website, and financial organizations — no later than 20 hours. These changes are in line with recommendations six and seven of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).

At the same time, clients of financial organizations included in the relevant lists, in some cases, may apply to Rosfinmonitoring with an application for the cancellation of such financial sanctions. These cases include, in particular, the absence of independent sources of income; making payments under contracts concluded before inclusion in the relevant lists; covering emergency expenses. Rosfinmonitoring, together with the Russian Foreign Ministry, will consider such an application with competent international organizations or authorized bodies.

It is noted that financial organizations are also given a maximum of 20 hours to unfreeze assets from the moment they receive a notification from Rosfinmonitoring about the adoption of such a decision by the UN Security Council.