Compliance tools · Corporate governance, employment and financial

UK Sanctions Regime compliance tool

SAMLA 2018 (c. 13) · United Kingdom · Binding instrument

Name anyone on your staff. The system makes them your compliance person.

A member of your own staff, with no compliance background, reads the training module, answers the interview, and finishes with your UK Sanctions Regime documentation cited article by article. The knowledge stays in the business.

Every account level runs inside a dedicated Claude account. Anyone can try a toolkit in their own Claude account; compliance work runs in a dedicated one. The Claude Max plan is £90 a month, paid to Anthropic, and is not included in any level.

See a finished report before you pay

UK Sanctions Regime is SAMLA 2018 (c. 13), a binding instrument in the United Kingdom. Sanctions prohibitions binding every UK business, with reporting duties on relevant firms.

The free assessment screens every United Kingdom business against this instrument: it applies across sectors rather than to one activity.

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• Your exact position under UK Sanctions Regime: what is in place, what is missing, and what to do about each gap.
• Documentation with article citations, ready for auditors, insurers, customers and public buyers.
• A trained person inside the business who understands what the regulation requires, and stays.
• A dated record of every section completed, with the reports themselves staying in your own Claude account. The toolkit is carried by an account level, see the plans.
• All of it completed in-house, at your own pace, without booking a single meeting.

Check that UK Sanctions Regime applies to your business, free →

Does UK Sanctions Regime apply to my business?

You are caught if you are a person carrying on business in the United Kingdom, because SAMLA applies to any person, defined in s.9(5) to include individuals, bodies corporate or unincorporate, organisations, and associations. Regulations made under the Act may impose prohibitions and requirements on persons subject to those specific sanctions regulations (s.16(1), s.17(4)).

Who does UK Sanctions Regime apply to?

SAMLA applies to any person, which s.9(5) defines to include individuals, bodies corporate or unincorporate, organisations, and associations or combinations of persons. It also reaches United Kingdom persons extra-territorially, meaning UK nationals and bodies incorporated or constituted under the law of any part of the United Kingdom (s.21(2)-(3)).

Does UK Sanctions Regime apply to a small business?

The instrument has no size threshold. SAMLA sets no employee or turnover limit, and small and medium-sized enterprises in financial services, trade, import and export, shipping, aviation, or commercial arrangements with designated persons are directly subject to the prohibitions and requirements imposed under sanctions regulations made under the Act.

When does UK Sanctions Regime apply from, and what are the deadlines?

SAMLA received Royal Assent on 23 May 2018, and most operative sections came into force on 22 November 2018 under S.I. 2018/1213, reg. 2. Sections 49 and Schedule 2 came into force on 31 December 2020 under S.I. 2020/1535, reg. 3, and section 17A on monetary penalties came into force on 15 November 2023 under S.I. 2023/1206, reg. 2.

What does UK Sanctions Regime require me to do?

You must maintain compliance records, create and retain registers, produce documents on request, and comply with the prohibitions and requirements created by the sanctions regulations that apply to you. If you carry on relevant business, you must also keep policies, controls and procedures against money laundering and terrorist financing, apply customer due diligence including enhanced measures for high-risk countries, and register with a supervisory authority before carrying on prescribed business.

What records or documents does UK Sanctions Regime require me to keep or produce?

Persons of a prescribed description must maintain compliance records, create and retain registers, and produce documents on request under the sanctions compliance and reporting obligations. Relevant persons must also keep policies, controls and procedures for mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

What happens if I do not comply with UK Sanctions Regime?

Breach of the prohibitions and requirements created by sanctions regulations may constitute a criminal offence, with a maximum of 10 years imprisonment on indictment under s.17(4)-(5). Anti-money laundering offences created under s.49 regulations carry a lower maximum of 2 years on indictment and 3 months on summary conviction (Schedule 2, paragraph 18).

How do I start complying with UK Sanctions Regime?

The first practical step is to identify whether you carry on relevant business, meaning business of a kind that entails risks relating to money laundering, terrorist financing, or other threats to the integrity of the financial system (Schedule 2, paragraph 24). If you do, you must register with a supervisory authority before carrying on prescribed business.

Which ComplianceSME account includes the UK Sanctions Regime toolkit?

The UK Sanctions Regime agent toolkit is included from the Small level.

Related in corporate governance, employment and financial: CSRD · CS3D / CSDDD · EU AML Regulation · EU Taxonomy Regulation