DFAT sanctions exist to prohibit or restrict financial interactions where one of the parties is a person or an entity deemed dangerous for the country. The implemented sanctions vary extensively, depending on a type of violation or threat that the country or region in question poses to Australian policy.
Australian sanction laws
DFAT is an abbreviation for The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade — the institution that acts upon the decisions issued by the Australian government.
DFAT implements legislation enforced under Australian foreign policy laws — sanctions list of entities and individuals that are subjected to specific prohibitions in connection with trade, travel, business, financial transactions, etc.
Types of sanction measures
Be it a sanctioned individual, entity or region, they require different sanction regimes. To set an example, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade sanctions list may include general or specific restrictions on:
- having business relationships with designated person or entity;
- executing sanctioned services;
- import and export of sanctioned goods;
- engaging in sanctioned commercial activities;
- designated persons entering or transiting through Australia;
- etc.
All of these cases differ in the restrictive measures applied to them. Some of the regimes of DFAT sanctions include Counter-terrorism, ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida, Crimea and Sevastopol, Iran, Russia, The Taliban, Syria, Myanmar, Somalia, Yemen, etc.
For individuals subjected to these and other sanctioned regimes, these measures mean that they may be blocked from traveling to, leading business with, shipping goods to/from, trading and providing services in Australia.
Why perform DFAT list checks
Financial institutions and organizations have to have adequate DFAT screening to identify sanctioned individuals and entities. Ignoring the legislation and failing to expose customers engaged in criminal activity results in heavy fines and prison sentences.
Companies are pressured to demonstrate a robust compliance framework and for that, we have developed an AML/KYC solution that meets requirements at both a regional and global level and reaches the accuracy of 99%.
