No.19 2023/24 - Russian sanctions update

The two key changes are:

• A requirement for attestations to be provided on a per-voyage basis. Annual attestations will no longer be acceptable. Where the cargo is transferred to another vessel via STS, this will constitute a new voyage requiring further attestations.
  
  The per voyage attestations should be provided as follows:
  
  - The attestations received by shipowners from charterers or other contractual counterparts should be obtained prior to loading. This is emphasised in the US guidance. Unless the attestation is received before loading, the shipowner will not have comfort that the cargo is price cap compliant until it is already on board. The EU guidance reiterates that “Shipowners are required to do the necessary due diligence such that it would be reasonable to rely on the attestation they have been provided by their customer”.
  
  - The attestations provided by shipowners to P&I Clubs must be provided within 30 days of loading. No cover will be available unless an attestation is provided within this timescale.

• Itemised price information for ancillary costs is to be recorded by those entities with access to price information and then provided to shipowners and P&I Clubs upon request. Shipowners must ensure they have a right to ancillary costs information within 30 days. Accordingly, Members should include in their contracts appropriate provisions to enable them to exercise such rights. If Members fail to do so, this may affect their ability to discharge their own information obligations to their Club, and potentially jeopardise their P&I cover. P&I Clubs are to ensure that shipowners obtain and share this information with them on request. The EU Regulation 833/2014 has been amended to provide that service providers should have the right, upon request, to itemised price information. Members should therefore consider ensuring a right to such information within a much shorter timescale than 30 days, so as to be able to share the information promptly with P&I Clubs and other service providers.

The changes set out above mean that for the 2024/2025 policy year per voyage attestations will be required in the revised form set out at Annex A to this circular.

In order for the Club to provide assistance where an entered vessel is engaged in the carriage of Russian oil or petroleum products, the Member must have:

(1) Submitted an attestation as set out in Annex A; and

(2) Provided the voyage information in a SPIRE report (see Notice to Members No.2 2022/2023 and updated with Notice to Members No.2 2023/2024)

(3) Members are reminded that this information must be provided to the Club following any call to a Russian port or a transit of Russian waters, whatever the cargo.

Once the above information and documentation has been submitted, it will be reviewed by the Club who may request further or clarificatory information from the Member. This may include a request for the itemised price information for ancillary costs referred to in this Circular and Members are reminded that failure to provide this information to the Club may jeopardise the provision of cover. Members can expect such a request for itemised price information where the Club does not have sufficient comfort that the requirements of the Price Cap scheme have been complied with, or in response to a request from a relevant authority. Reasons why the Club may not have sufficient comfort could include because there are concerns about the parties involved in the trade, concerns arising from the Club’s own due diligence or where they have received information about a suspected violation (i.e. from open-source reporting or a request from a relevant authority). The EU Regulation states that “competent authorities can request that [the itemised price] information from any actor, regardless of their place in the supply chain, at any time, in order to verify compliance with the price cap mechanism”.