On March 25, 2022, ISDA® published a new 2022 Russian Sanctions Additional Provisions booklet (Russia sanctions provisions), which parties may incorporate by reference into their credit derivatives documents, including credit default swap (CDS), to exclude certain obligations that are restricted by sanctions imposed by Canada, the EU, Japan, Switzerland, the UK, and the US on certain Russian entities. The Russia sanctions provisions define these obligations as Excluded Obligations and Excluded Deliverable Obligations. The Russia sanctions provisions are available to download from the ISDA bookstore.

ISDA notes that the Russia sanctions provisions may be incorporated into a relevant transaction confirmation (including in electronic form) by appropriate wording indicating to the effect that the Additional Provisions for Certain Russian Entities: Excluded Obligations and Excluded Deliverable Obligations, published on March 25, 2022, are incorporated by reference into the confirmation. The Additional Provisions for Certain Russian Entities: Excluded Obligations and Excluded Deliverable Obligations, published on March 25, 2022 is the formal name for the Russia sanctions provisions.

Appendix 1 to the Russia sanctions provisions identifies the following as sanctioned Russian entities:

According to ISDA, no new debt obligations have been issued by the sanctioned Russian entities that would be excluded by the Russia sanctions provisions. ISDA notes, however, that it is possible that other debt obligations that are restricted debt could be issued. ISDA provides that the Russia sanctions provisions are necessary to provide smooth operation of the CDS markets and the CDS auction process, ensuring that the sanctions do not prevent legacy transactions from being included in any CDS auction that might be held in future.

On March 2, 2022 ISDA and Trade Association for the Emerging Markets (EMTA), the principal trade group for the emerging markets trading and investment community, jointly published an amendment agreement relating to disruption events associated with delivering Russian Rubles (see Legal update, ISDA and EMTA jointly publish amendment agreement relating to disruption events associated with delivering Russian Rubles).

For additional ISDA Russian sanction information, visit the ISDA Russian Sanctions and Market Impacts InfoHub (see Legal Update, ISDA Creates InfoHub Webpage on Derivatives Market Impact of Russian Sanctions).

For information on ISDA documents, including ISDA protocols, see Practice Note, ISDA Documents: Overview (US).