Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 29 January 2026 Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (WBF) amended Annex 28 of the Ordinance on Measures Relating to the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), lowering the price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil from USD 47.6 to USD 44.1 per barrel, effective 1 February 2026. The amendment prohibits Swiss-domiciled operators from providing financial and transport (maritime, insurance, brokering) services related to Russian crude oil priced above the new cap. Switzerland is not an EU member but autonomously aligns its Ukraine Ordinance with EU sanctions packages; this cut mirrors the EU's Implementing Regulation 2026/124 and the UK OFSI general licence amendment adopted two weeks earlier under the same six-monthly dynamic-adjustment formula.

On 12 January 2026 Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (WBF) amended Annexes 8, 14, 15b and 33 of the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine, with effect from 23:00 on 13 January 2026. The amendment adds 5 natural persons, 4 organisations (one Vietnam-based, three based in the UAE and Russia), and 41 vessels to the asset-freeze and port-access-prohibition annexes, and makes technical corrections to 7 existing entries. The measure is a routine incremental listing update continuing Switzerland's autonomous alignment with the EU's Russia sanctions regime, following the first EU 19th-package tranche adopted 12 December 2025 ([switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-december-listings](2025-12-12-switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-december-listings.md)) and preceding the substantive package completion of 25 February 2026 ([switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-russia-belarus](2026-02-25-switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-russia-belarus.md)).

On 12 August 2025 Switzerland amended the Ordinance on Measures concerning Moldova (SR 946.231.156.5) — published as AS 2025 496 — adding the Russian company A7 LLC to Annex 2, the frozen-funds list. Under the ordinance, A7 LLC's funds and economic resources held in Switzerland are frozen and Swiss persons/entities are prohibited from making funds or economic resources available to it. The listing targets a single entity alleged to be involved in Russian-led efforts to influence Moldova's 2024 EU-membership referendum and presidential election; the EU had added the same entity to its own frozen-funds list roughly a month earlier, in July 2025.

On 12 August 2025 Switzerland amended the Ordinance on Measures against Belarus (SR 946.231.116.9) — published as AS 2025 495 — adding eight Belarusian companies active in the arms industry to the frozen-funds list. Under the ordinance, funds and economic resources belonging to listed entities are frozen within Switzerland and making resources available to them is prohibited. The listing was adopted the same day Switzerland moved an interim tranche of EU 18th-package Russia measures into force via a parallel ordinance (AS 2025 497), aligning Swiss Belarus sanctions with the broader EU sanctions architecture targeting Russia's war effort and its Belarusian military-industrial suppliers.

On 12 August 2025 the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (WBF) amended the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), published as AS 2025 497, adopting — within its own delegated competence and ahead of the full Federal Council decision — an interim tranche of measures aligning Switzerland with the EU's 18th Russia sanctions package (Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1494, 18 July 2025). The amendment lowers the Russian-crude price cap and updates the associated Annex 28 price-threshold table, extends export prohibitions on transport services, adds port-access restrictions covering 105 additional shadow-fleet vessels, and widens controls on commercial transactions and investment instruments for Russian financial institutions. It also extends asset-freeze listings to entities in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mauritius, Azerbaijan, India and the UAE implicated in circumvention. The measure took effect 12 August 2025. The Federal Council closed out the remaining goods, finance and services elements of the 18th package on 29 October 2025 (see responds_to).

On 29 February 2024 Switzerland's WBF decided to align with the EU's 13th Russia sanctions package by amending the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), effective 1 March 2024 at 18:00 CET. The amendment adds over 100 individuals and nearly 90 entities — mainly Russian military-industrial-complex firms and suppliers of DPRK-sourced weapons to Russia — to the asset-freeze and designation lists, and extends the dual-use/military-technology export ban to 27 additional companies believed to be circumventing existing controls.

Switzerland's Federal Council amended the Ordinance on measures related to the situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72) to align with the EU's ninth sanctions package, effective 6pm on 25 January 2023. The amendment bans new Swiss investment, equity provision, and participation (including joint ventures) in Russian mining-sector entities, with a carve-out for critical raw materials (aluminium/bauxite, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron ore, mineral fertilisers, molybdenum, nickel, palladium, rhodium, scandium, titanium, vanadium). It also extends export bans on aerospace goods to aircraft and drone engines, adds new controls on dual-use and military/security-enhancement goods, bans product testing/advertising/market-research services to Russia, and designates roughly 200 additional individuals and entities, including the Russian Regional Development Bank, to frozen-asset lists.