Canada and Australia sanctions lists

Canada: the laws

Global Affairs Canada names three laws for sanctions: the United Nations Act, the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act ¹. It mentions the Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act as well ¹. Under SEMA section 4, the Governor in Council may restrict dealings with a foreign state and its nationals where an international body Canada belongs to calls for measures, a grave breach of international peace and security has occurred, gross and systematic human rights violations have taken place, or acts of significant corruption are involved ⁵.

The Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law) received assent on 18 October 2017. It allows orders against foreign nationals responsible for gross human rights violations against people who expose illegal acts or defend human rights, and against officials responsible for significant corruption ⁶.

Canada: the consolidated list and what it leaves out

The Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List covers persons listed under SEMA and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act ². Global Affairs Canada says the list is not a regulation and does not have force of law, and inclusion is for administrative purposes only. The relevant regulation governs each listing ². The list is published in HTML, PDF and XML and can be filtered by regulation ².

Entities listed as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code are published on a separate Public Safety Canada page ⁷. That page records completed statutory reviews, including a review of 11 entities dated 4 June 2026 ⁷. Global Affairs Canada lists 24 countries under the UN Act and SEMA, along with issue-based measures on terrorism and extremist settler violence ¹.

Canada: offences

Under SEMA section 8, a person who wilfully breaks an order or regulation made under section 4 may face a fine of up to C$25,000, up to one year in prison, or both, on summary conviction. On indictment the maximum is five years in prison ⁵. Officers with powers under the Customs Act and the Excise Acts are deemed peace officers for enforcement ⁵.

Australia: two frameworks, one list

Australia runs two frameworks. UN Security Council sanctions are imposed by the Council and Australia is obligated to implement them as a matter of international law. Autonomous sanctions are imposed and implemented by the Australian Government as a matter of foreign policy ³. The governing laws are the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 and the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 ³. Measures include targeted financial sanctions that freeze assets and limits on goods, services and commercial activity. Some regimes add travel bans enforced by the Department of Home Affairs ³.

The Australian Sanctions Office keeps and regularly updates the Consolidated List ⁴. It includes all individuals, entities and vessels subject to Australian sanctions, with names, aliases, dates and places of birth, citizenships and addresses ⁴. UN-sanctioned vessels sit on a separate 1718 Designated Vessels List. The list leaves out persons listed under other Australian laws or by other countries ⁴.

Using the lists