NSD did not extend the period of fee waiving

Shortly after the NSD (the Russian central securities depository) was placed on the sanctions list by the EU, NSD started waiving fees. This was done to allow for certain transactions to continue (such as the conversion of depositary receipts into ordinary shares), without a payment being made to NSD as a sanctioned entity.

This fee waiving period lasted until the 31st of December 2025 and has since not (yet?) been extended (see https://www.nsd.ru/en/tariffs/). We earlier noted that Russian securities in type C accounts (including the ordinary shares underlying depositary receipts) were transferred back to NSD after NSD had been cut out of the chain of custody for a while after NSD was sanctioned by OFAC (see Decree 840 of the 2nd of October 2024, that wasn't extended). 

Unfortunately, this means that the NSD may levy charges again for a transfer of securities out of the account of the depositary banks and foreign nominee holders. Hence one would require an authorisation from competent authorities. 

We will soon do a write up on several court cases that EAHCISS contributed to with expertise. In one of the cases the Dutch court ruled that the Dutch competent authority had unjustly limited the time period for which the authorisation to make funds available to NSD whilst converting Russian ADRs was valid. The court recognized that in practice not all securities could be converted in the relevant timeframe and that a sale of the underlying ordinary shares was also not practically possible (see Court of Gelderland 20 March 2026, ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2026:2225 https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2026:2225). Earlier, an Austrian court had ruled that the Austrian competent authority had rightfully rejected the request for authorisation because the request was submitted after the deadline (see Bundesverwaltungsgericht Republik Österreich 21st of May 2024, https://ris.bka.gv.at/Dokumente/Bvwg/BVWGT_20240521_W276_2288682_1_00/BVWGT_20240521_W276_2288682_1_00.pdf).