Category: Analysis

Regulatory Watch News

• 

  Call for evidence on ownership and control in financial sanctions regulations

  OFSI

  February 16, 2026

  OFSI has launched a call for evidence to seek industry’s views on how UK financial sanctions regulations on ownership and control are applied in practice, including how firms implement the regulations and where they face challenges.   

  The ownership and control test is designed to stop sanctioned individuals and entities from sidestepping UK sanctions by hiding behind complex company structures, trusts or proxies. However, industry representatives report to OFSI that assessing the ability of a designated person to control an entity – even if they are not actively doing so – can be difficult in practice and may create additional costs and legal risk. 

• 

  Spain: Fraudster convicted to three years in prison for impersonating service provider to EU mission in Somalia

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  February 16, 2026

    (Luxembourg, 16 February 2026) – A Spanish citizen was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for impersonating a service provider to the EU mission in Somalia, in order to fraudulently obtain funds, following an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Madrid (Spain). At issue are funds allocated to the EU Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP Somalia), mandated to assist Federal Somali Police Force and Somali authorities to enhance law enforcement capabilities and strengthening maritime security.

• 

  OLAF helps to stop illegal export of hazardous industrial waste from Albania

  OLAF

  February 16, 2026

  The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has supported Albanian authorities in uncovering and stopping the illegal export of hazardous industrial waste from the port of Durrës, Albania to Thailand, highlighting the growing global threat posed by illegal waste trafficking.  The investigation began in 2024 when OLAF alerted the Albanian customs authorities to a shipment suspected of containing large quantities of misdeclared hazardous waste. Export documents described the cargo as iron oxide. However, subsequent laboratory analysis later established that the cargo, in fact contained a toxic by-product of steel production.