Sanctions: Basic Guide for SMEs

Trade compliance is a crucial issue and one that is a major concern for businesses worldwide. But what are trade sanctions? What are the risks of non compliance for smaller businesses and what measures can be taken to mitigate those risks?   

This guidance from the ICC Institute of World Business Law Task Force on Compliance aims to help SMEs comply with trade sanctions, ensuring that its activities contribute to ICC’s mission to make business work for everyone, every day, everywhere. 

Why is Trade-Control Compliance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) challenging? 

SMEs account for the majority of businesses worldwide.  They are important contributors to job creation and global economic development as they comprise an estimated 80% of employment in many countries and are the backbone of the global economy.  

Due to the complex and rapid nature of legal and regulatory trade control provisions, companies are obliged to implement effective and efficient internal control measures to rigorously comply with all applicable trade-control regimes. However, this is particularly challenging for SMEs that have only limited resources at their disposal to devote to compliance and external specialised legal advice. 

What are trade sanctions? What impact do they have on SMEs and how must they comply? 

The guidance note: 

• Provides the definition of trade sanctions 
• Assesses the main impacts of sanctions on SMEs 
• Proposes to SMEs consistent measures to avoid violations of trade-compliance requirements when confronted with trade-compliance issues (red flags).