Companies are facing an increasingly complex web of domestic and international sanctions regimes concerning transactions involving Iranian parties and investments in Iran.

Developments in recent days suggest that Canadian firms doing business internationally must exercise extra vigilance to ensure compliance with trade and investment controls on Iran and in order to reduce the risk of negative financial and reputational exposure. The most significant of these developments include:

i.a fourth round of international sanctions against Iran, imposed under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1929 on June 9, 2010, and their implementation into the domestic laws of Canada and other UN members;

ii.increased Canadian enforcement and prosecution activity, including Canada