Oil Price Cap suspected breach reporting form
Oil Price Cap (OPC) suspected breach reporting form
Before you start
This form should be used to report suspected breaches of the UK Maritime Services Ban and Oil Price Cap General Licence to HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).
Before completing this form, you should consult OFSI’s Russian Oil Services Ban guidance for information on the Maritime Services Ban, Oil Price Cap, and associated reporting and compliance obligations. You should also familiarise yourself with OFSI’s guidance on enforcement and civil monetary penalties, particularly the case factors OFSI uses when assessing potential breaches of UK sanctions. This guidance can be found here: Financial sanctions enforcement and monetary penalties guidance
You should note that for some businesses there is a legal obligation to report, and that not doing so is a criminal offence. If you are unsure of your compliance or reporting obligations under financial sanctions, you should seek independent legal advice.
For reporting that relates to any of the following activities, please use the forms available at Russian Oil Services ban:
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Tier 1 reporting activity under Oil Price Cap General Licence INT/2022/2469656 or INT/2024/4423849.
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Tier 2/3 notification of dealing with a non-UK Tier 1 under INT/2022/2469656 or INT/2024/4423849.
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Tier 2/3 notification that Tier 1 Provider has not confirmed compliance with reporting requirements under INT/2022/2469656 or INT/2024/4423849.
Please ensure that when completing this form, the facts and information provided are accurate and true to the best of your knowledge. You should have completed a narrative report of the circumstances of the breach ready to upload before you commence this form (see below for further guidance), unless this is a pre-notification and you intend to later make a fuller report within a specified timeframe.
You cannot save your progress. Make sure you have the following information before you start:
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Contact details of the person making the report.
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Details of the suspected breacher and any involved UK persons or entities, including company reference numbers where applicable.
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Details of any persons connected to Russia, if involved.
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The regulations under which the suspected breach has occurred and the suspected offence that has been triggered.
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Details of any suspected breaches of licence conditions or reporting obligations, or the General Licence(s) that the suspected breach relates to, including the licence number.
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The tier of service provider of the reporter of the suspected breach.
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The tier of service provider of the person(s) suspected of committing the breach.
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Details of any suspected breach, including:
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Oil transaction details.
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Voyage details.
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Vessel details.
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Any UK nexus and other relevant service providers.
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Any sanctions evasion red flags.
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Documentation detailing the events or series of actions that led to the suspected breach taking place (further guidance below).
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Details of when and how the suspected breach was discovered, and any other authority the matter has also been reported to.
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The types of activities, services, and jurisdictions involved.
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Any other supporting material, including any relevant attestations.
The information you provide may be shared for the purpose of facilitating, monitoring or ensuring compliance with UK sanctions regulations, in accordance with HM Treasury’s information sharing powers and UK data protection legislation.
Completing the narrative report
Your report should include all known details in relation to the suspected breach activity. You should carefully review OFSI’s financial sanctions enforcement and monetary penalties guidance (opens in new tab) prior to writing your report. Chapter 3, Case assessment, gives details of how OFSI will assess a case and the factors we will take into account. OFSI encourages all reporters to include as much detail as possible in this report to assist OFSI’s understanding of the case and circumstances. If making a self-report, you should ensure that this report is accurate and materially complete in order for this to be considered a mitigating factor in any subsequent enforcement case, or to qualify for a discount for voluntary self-disclosure, should a penalty be imposed.
OFSI takes very seriously any evidence that a person deliberately made a disclosure which did not include relevant information, unless this was a mistake or new facts emerge. Where information is not known or not applicable, reporters should make that clear at the outset.
The following are examples of important details which should be included in a report:
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The date and value of the suspected breach, including a full timeline of events from the root cause of the breach to the time of reporting the breach to OFSI.
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If there has been a significant passage of time between the breach occurring, it being identified and then subsequently reported to OFSI, an explanation for this passage of time.
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The key parties involved in the suspected breach, and their roles in any given transaction or financial arrangement. Provide clear descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of the different actors and key identifiers, including but not limited to company registration numbers and job titles.
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If making a report which relates to an entity you deem may be owned or controlled by a DP, provide as much detail as to why you consider the ownership or control test is met, with reference to specific factors (such as share ownership) and refer to Case Factor F in OFSI’s enforcement and monetary penalty guidance when doing so. State your level of confidence in the ownership and control assessment, and how that assessment was made.
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If a transaction is complicated, consider providing diagrams or charts which explain the commercial relationships between parties, especially if the transaction or activity spans multiple countries.
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Try to avoid using acronyms or industry jargon, or if you use such terminology clearly explain it and consider providing a glossary of terms.
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The sanctions regime and regulation(s) suspected to have been breached.
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Any sanctions policies or procedures in place in your organisation, and any other information relevant to your sanctions knowledge and compliance systems. If policies and procedures were not followed in relation to the breach, explain why.
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If self-reporting, an explanation of the reporter’s assessment as to the root causes of the breach and any shortcomings in sanctions systems and controls or the implementation of these systems and controls.
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Details of communication between any third parties/others involved in relation to verifying the transaction in question.
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Whether you are aware of any future payments or activity related to the potential breach you are reporting. If so, explain whether you have applied or intend to apply for a licence for this future activity, and provide the licence reference number. Please note that you cannot apply for a licence for something which has already occurred in the past, and
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Any steps taken since the occurrence or identification of the suspected breach, including any remedial action planned or undertaken or any wider investigation into other breaches.
Tips
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The form cannot be saved, and times out after 20 hours of inactivity. You can prepare answers in a Word (or other) document, save them, then paste the information onto the form.
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A maximum of 4 files can be uploaded to the form, each with a maximum file size of 7MB. This can consist of 1 report detailing the circumstances of the breach and up to 3 files providing supporting evidence.
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Read through all your information to check it includes everything required by OFSI, and it all makes sense.
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Ensure any figures add up correctly and where applicable, currencies are clearly stated.
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Carefully consider whether you need to submit more than 4 files and/or if any will exceed the size limit. If you deem this essential, contact OFSI at oilpricecap.ofsi@hmtreasury.gov.uk quoting the reference number provided upon submission.