Sanctions compliance can be complex, fast-moving and resource intensive. To help businesses navigate these challenges, the EU Sanctions Helpdesk has been supporting European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other organisations in complying with EU restrictive measures since March 2025.
Learning from SMEs’ experience
Beyond one-to-one support, the Helpdesk works with SMEs (and other practitioners) who deal with real-world sanctions challenges, to share lessons and best practices. Through events, interviews, and its podcast series, the Compliance Corner, the Helpdesk collects real tips and tricks that other SMEs can take advantage of.
Maria Mougianni of HarborLab and Ward Parsons from Håkansson Sågblad were the first to share their stories in the Compliance Corner podcast series, representing Greek and Swedish SMEs from very different sectors: shipping/harbour operations and small-scale, high-end manufacturing. Their stories show that, regardless of sector or size, sanctions compliance is a shared challenge and one that SMEs do not have to face alone.
HarborLab: Navigating complexity in the maritime sector
Maria has experience in financial services, with a focus on sanctions governance and enforcement in the maritime industry. Her company offers shipping companies ways to manage the disbursement account process with transparency, consistency and operational control. Sanctions compliance is obviously a critical part of that. Maria says that a key lesson she has learned is to prepare for constant change. “Sanctions frameworks evolve quickly and without much warning,” she says. “A flexible mindset and an adaptable internal architecture are key. This includes keeping policies under continuous review and ensuring company teams are equipped to handle regulatory shifts.”
Maria also shared her experience in taking advantage of the Helpdesk’s Support Service, saying that it is important to leverage external expertise. “One of the most impactful choices we made was to make full use of public resources like the EU Sanctions Helpdesk,” she said. “Their guidance has been essential in validating our internal approach and clarifying how certain obligations apply to our business model. They have helped us navigate complex interpretations, for example, around ownership disclosures and jurisdictional applications, ensuring that our decisions are well-reasoned and appropriate.”
Watch Maria’s episode
Håkansson Sågblad: A different sector, similar challenges
Ward Parsons of Swedish manufacturing firm Håkansson Sågblad related his own experience of dealing with sanctions as a small company with limited internal resources to handle these situations. “We’re a small company. We’re actually the smallest quality player we believe in the world. We’ve only got 34, 35 guys, including all the factory and all of the front office staff…Our turnover is about 10 million euro a year…And we export 95% of our material around the world.” He noted a common problem, which was a lack of clarity about what exactly was needed in order to show that certain transactions or customers were acceptable to deal with. “The bank started talking to us about who your customers are,” he said. “They kept coming back to us saying, well, what about this situation? What about that situation? And the banks kept pushing back saying, well, you have to do more, do more, but they wouldn’t tell us what.”
Ward and his company ended up creating their own internal processes to compile information for the banks. Some of what they did can be found in an article published by the EU Sanctions Helpdesk. But he also reached out to the Helpdesk team in order to get further support. “The Helpdesk Support Service helped create the paper trail to make sure that we have the right documentation, the owner certificate, the export declarations, the re-export agreements, the HS codes, and what products are in the codes,” he explained. “So, it helped us actually keep that data organised.”
Watch Ward’s episode
What’s next?
Are you a business support organisation interested in partnering with the EU Sanctions Helpdesk to support EU SMEs? If so, you can reach out for partnerships via this form.
Or are you an SME dealing with similar sanctions issues? In that case, here are a few steps you can follow:
Step 1
Make sure to check out the EU Sanctions Helpdesk website, including publications and resources. The podcast episodes are also a great listen, as they go into more detail and offer tips and best practices.
Step 2
Head over to the EU Sanctions Helpdesk’s free, personalised Support Service to discuss your own situation with our team. The Support Service helps SMEs to:
- Understand how EU restrictive measures apply to their specific business activities
- Receive guidance and support on sanctions due diligence, free of charge, when red flags arise or reassurance is needed
Step 3
If you have doubts about how to use the Support Service’s online portal, watch the new explainer video to familiarise yourself with the process.
Watch explainer video here
Related links
EU Sanctions Helpdesk
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