UK Court Adjourns Trial Involving VTB Commodities Over OFSI Licensing Delay

The U.K.'s High Court of Justice in a Nov. 4 judgment adjourned a trial between VTB Commodities Trading and Petraco Oil over the delivery of oil cargo, according to a Nov. 8 post on the EU Sanctions blog. The U.K. sanctioned VTB in February, leading it to submit an application for a license to pay legal fees for the proceeding. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation failed to process the application eight months after submission, leading VTB to apply to adjourn the trial that was set for May, given that the company could not make the legal payments. In the meantime, OFSI issued a General License over the provision of legal services under the Russia sanctions regime. The High Court considered the license, then adjourned the trial. The court said the trial should be resolved "in part because of the time required to obtain OFSI licences," ordering VTB to apply to OFSI for a license to cover adverse costs liability in the proceeding and to cover other costs not covered by the General License.