Now lawDefence & Security Introduced in the House of Representatives, 12 Oct 2026

Old Iran and Syria trade bans now count from day one

Some lists of goods banned from trade with Iran and Syria were never put on the official list of laws. This new law treats them as if they had been, all the way back to the day they were made.

Official name: Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Iran and Syria) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Businesses that sell to or buy from Iran or Syria: The bans on certain goods they were told about are now confirmed as rules they must obey by law.
• People charged or sued for breaking trade bans: They can no longer argue the case should fail because the list of banned goods was never added to the official list.
• People who obeyed the bans: The law confirms that what they did because of the bans was legal.

Why it exists

Sanctions are punishments one country puts on another, such as trade bans. They are often used to push a government to change, over human rights or safety.

Australia's own sanctions are set out in the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011, and in detailed rules made under it. Autonomous means Australia chose them itself, apart from the United Nations, the world body where countries agree on action together.

Some sanctions ban selling certain goods to a country. Others ban bringing goods in from a country.

The bans apply to everyone in Australia. They also apply to Australians and Australian businesses overseas.

Goods can be put on a banned list in different ways. Sometimes the detailed rules name a type of goods. Then the Minister for Foreign Affairs fills in the details in a separate paper. One example is a certain kind of graphite, picked by the Minister, for Iran. Graphite is a form of carbon used in pencils, batteries and machines.

The paperwork problem

Another law, the Legislation Act 2003, sets a rule. Any paper that makes or changes the law must go on the Federal Register of Legislation. That is the official online list of all federal laws.

Until a paper is on that list, it cannot be enforced by or against anyone.

For years the government treated the Minister's lists of goods as everyday paperwork. It thought they did not need to go on the official list. So they were not put on it or shown to Parliament.

The government's notes on the bill say those lists may well have changed the law. If so, they needed to go on the official list.

That means eight lists made between 2012 and 2016 for Iran and Syria may have had no legal force.

Lists treated as registered

The new law adds one new section, section 27A, to the Autonomous Sanctions Act. It covers any list of banned goods the Minister made before the change. It does not matter if the list still applies.

Some lists could not be enforced only because they were never put on the official list. These are now treated as if they had been on it all along. This reaches back in time.

The law also confirms that anything done because people thought the lists applied still counts. That includes court cases, both finished and still going.

It covers cases under the sanctions law and the border law on smuggling. It also covers the law that lets the government take money made from crime.

Say an Australian company was stopped from shipping a certain type of graphite to Iran years ago. Later the company or the government might argue about whether that ban was ever legal. Under this law, the ban counts from the day the list was made.

Limits on the change

The government's notes say the law does not make anything a crime that was not a crime before. It does not widen any crime or make any punishment bigger.

They say all the lists were published in some form. Government advice always said they applied. So the notes say no one is likely to be worse off.

Courts still decide whether what a person did was a crime. The notes say this means the law leaves the courts' powers under the Constitution alone. The Constitution is Australia's founding rule book.

Human rights questions

The government's own human rights notes accept the law limits two rights. One is the rule that criminal laws should not reach back in time.

The other is the right to a fair way to fix a wrong. The law takes away one way a person could fight a criminal case.

The government says these limits are fair. It says sanctions help stop weapons and spying tools reaching cruel governments. It says they cut off money those governments use to abuse human rights.

Law since October 2026

The government brought the bill in, under Senator Penny Wong, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It was brought into the House of Representatives on 12 October 2026. The House passed it the next day, 13 October 2026.

The Senate, Parliament's second house, passed it with no changes on 15 October 2026.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 16 October 2026. It is now Act number 95 of 2026.

The parts with the law's name and setup started the day after it was signed. The main change starts 14 days after it was signed, which is 30 October 2026.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

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