SECO

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, is the Swiss federal authority that administers economic sanctions. The Federal Council decides whether to enact compulsory measures and gives them legal effect through ordinances. SECO maintains the operational machinery: lists, reporting, licences, exemptions, trade-control administration and compliance guidance.

Authority and practice

The Embargo Act authorises measures implementing sanctions adopted by the United Nations, the OSCE or Switzerland's major trading partners. Switzerland is not an EU member, and EU measures do not become Swiss law automatically. The Federal Council determines whether and how to adopt them; the applicable Swiss ordinance controls.

On 28 February 2022, the Federal Council decided to adopt EU sanctions against Russia, followed by a revised Ukraine ordinance on 4 March. Measures have included asset freezes, financial restrictions and controls on military, dual-use, industrial, energy and transport-related goods. Subsequent Swiss packages have not always matched every EU measure in scope or timing.

SECO is strategically important because Switzerland is a financial, commodity-trading and wealth-management centre. Its reporting and licensing decisions can extend coalition coverage over assets and trade channels that other jurisdictions cannot directly reach. The same position creates scrutiny over enforcement intensity and the difference between Russian-linked wealth and property legally attributable to a designated person.

An asset freeze is not confiscation, and a person being Russian is not a legal basis for restriction. Live decisions require the operative ordinance, designation data, ownership and control analysis, applicable exceptions and any SECO authorisation.

Record checked against public official sources on 29 July 2026.

See also

Switzerland · Embargo Act (Switzerland, 2002) · Asset freeze · Coalition coverage (the coverage problem) · Export-control licensing regime

Sources

1. Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on the Implementation of International Sanctions.
2. SECO, sanctions portal.
3. SECO, measures connected with the situation in Ukraine.
4. Swiss Federal Council, neutrality and Russia sanctions decision, 22 April 2026.