A civil judgement from the Amsterdam Court of Appeal has revealed the outcome of an investigation of a breach of the EU's Iran sanctions by the Dutch authorities.
The company in question, Air Cargo Consultants BV, had acted as freight forwarder (but not the seller) for eight shipments of aircraft engines to Iran starting in 2018.
The export of these parts to Iran became newly prohibited in 2023 under EU regulation 1529/2023. The products were also barred from export to Iran under US sanctions.
On 1 October 2024 Dutch customs stopped an attempt to export a ninth aircraft engine, based on a suspicion that the products were prohibited from export to Iran under the EU's sanctions.
On the same day that the shipment was stopped the freight forwarder self-reported all nine exports to the US authorities, namely BIS, the Office of Export Enforcement and OFAC.
The civil judgment reports that in these circumstances the Dutch authorities declined to prosecute the freight forwarder but issued a warning that any further infractions would be prosecuted.
It is unclear from this judgment what, if any action, is being taken against the seller of the engines.
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