INTERIM COMPLIANCE · SANCTIONS · CUSTOMS · EXPORT CONTROL
Interim sanctions compliance: professionals and project lawyers for export control and trade compliance
For interim sanctions compliance, Alpinum Solutions provides industrial, trading, logistics and financial companies in Switzerland, Germany and Austria with professionals: compliance specialists for screening alerts and business partner checks, project lawyers for export control and product classification, and experienced leads for trade compliance programmes. Assignments run via staff leasing or freelancing, part-time or full-time, as an individual or a team. Your company directs the work and makes all export and release decisions.
A new sanctions package, a backlog of unreviewed screening alerts, the export control officer is absent, or a supplier in a high-risk country needs reassessing: in sanctions and export control, demand often arises quickly and cannot be absorbed by the existing team. Alpinum selects professionals by task, industry, languages and seniority, for example with experience in engineering, technology or banking. Financial sanctions in payments and the screening of bank customers are covered by AML, KYC & financial crime compliance. Alpinum does not provide legal advice.
The scenarios below show typical situations; they are not individual client cases.
Typical assignments in sanctions compliance, customs and export control
Clearing a backlog of screening alerts
After a list update or a new screening tool, alerts on customers, suppliers and shipments pile up. Junior and experienced professionals review the alerts according to your guidelines, document the basis for each decision and escalate true matches to your responsible people. Duration: a few weeks to a few months. Workload: often full-time, as a team for large volumes.
Classifying the product portfolio
An industrial company wants to check its item master data for export-controlled goods, for instance after a product launch or a system change. An export control project lawyer gathers technical data with engineering and product management, proposes classifications and maintains them in the system; approval stays with your export control function. Duration: several months. Workload: part-time or full-time.
Covering for the export control or sanctions officer
The responsible person goes on parental leave, moves internally or resigns. A senior professional takes over day-to-day work: requests from sales and logistics, preparing licence applications, contact with authorities and forwarders as you instruct. Duration: until the responsible person returns or the role is filled, often several months. Workload: usually full-time.
Reassessing business partners after new sanctions
New measures affect markets your company supplies. An experienced professional checks the ownership structures of customers and distributors, collects end-use statements, aligns contract clauses with the legal department and prepares decisions for management. Duration: a few weeks to several months. Workload: part-time or full-time.
Building or tightening a trade compliance programme
An internal audit finds missing policies, responsibilities and records. A senior professional designs processes for screening, classification and export handling, trains sales and logistics and hands over to the line. Duration: several months. Workload: often part-time.
Interim sanctions compliance: what professionals take on in sanctions, customs and export control
Sanctions screening and alert handling
Working through alerts from screening customers, suppliers, forwarders and shipments, closing false positives with a clear rationale and escalating true matches with supporting documents. The professional works in your tool and with the rules your company has set.
Export control and product classification
Gathering technical data on products, software and technology, preparing classifications, maintaining master data and compiling licence applications with the required documents. Whether a licence is needed and whether to ship is decided by your export control function.
Customs and export handling
Working with logistics and forwarders, checking export documents for completeness, resolving questions on commodity codes and origin. Customs declarations themselves are filed by your company or your service provider.
Business partner checks and contracts
Researching ownership and control structures, obtaining end-use statements, adding sanctions and export clauses to customer and supplier contracts and recording deviations for negotiation.
Policies, training and records
Updating internal policies and work instructions, training sales, procurement and logistics, and documenting checks and decisions so that internal audit and authorities can follow them.
Scope
This page covers sanctions, customs and export control in trade and business dealings. Sanctions checks in payments and on bank customers belong to AML and KYC remediation; the ongoing compliance function as a whole is covered by interim compliance officers and managers.
Profiles in sanctions and export control – junior, mid-level and senior
- Junior (0–2 years): reviewing and documenting screening alerts according to guidelines, maintaining master data, compiling documents for licence applications, following up on end-use statements.
- Mid-level / experienced (3–6 years): assessing complex alerts and ownership structures, classifying goods, answering requests from sales and logistics independently, leading a workstream.
- Senior (7+ years): covering the export control or sanctions function, building a trade compliance programme, preparing decision papers for management, liaising with authorities and external advisers, leading a screening team.
Your company sets screening rules, risk appetite, escalation paths and the reporting line and decides on shipments, business partners and licence applications. Under staff leasing, professional direction generally lies with you and the professional works within your organisation using your systems. Under freelancing, they take on a defined mandate, such as classifying a product line, and deliver it independently.
Engagement models for sanctions and export control professionals in Switzerland, Germany and Austria
Workload ranges from 20 to 100 %, depending on need. Screening teams and cover roles usually work with access to your systems and are therefore engaged through temporary legal staff via staff leasing; classifying a clearly defined portfolio can also go as a mandate to freelance lawyers.
Switzerland
The contracting party is Alpinum Solutions AG: staff leasing (Personalverleih) for teams and cover roles, or freelancing for defined packages.
Germany
Temporary agency work (Arbeitnehmerüberlassung) through Alpinum Solutions GmbH, or freelancing. Cities, framework and further roles are described on the page about interim legal counsel in Germany.
Austria
For client companies in Austria, professionals work as freelancers or via staff leasing contracted through Alpinum’s German or Swiss company.
Limits
Alpinum is neither a law firm nor a customs broker. Legal assessments, export decisions, applications in your own name and responsibility towards authorities remain with your company and its advisers.
Process: from enquiry to handover to your team
01 · Clarify task and setting
Sanctions, export control or both? Which products, markets and systems, what volume of alerts or items, which languages and what workload?
02 · Profiles within 48 hours
We send you selected profiles with sanctions or export control experience, drawn from 7,500+ interviewed and vetted legal & compliance professionals in our database. You set the start date together with Alpinum; this is not a guaranteed start.
03 · Onboarding to rules and tools
At the start, screening rules, escalation path, system access and contacts in sales, logistics and legal are in place.
04 · Operation, adjustment, handover
Workload and team size follow the volume. At the end the professional hands over open cases and documentation; a move into your team (temp-to-perm) is possible.
What sanctions compliance and export control professionals cost
Ranges per day, excluding VAT, as of 18 Oct 2026; the German ranges apply in Austria.
Switzerland (CHF)
Junior, 0–2 years: 600–800 · Experienced, 3–6 years: 800–1,200 · Senior, 7+ years: 1,200–1,800+
Germany and Austria (EUR), staff leasing
Junior: 480–720 · Experienced: 720–960 · Senior: 960–1,440+
Germany and Austria (EUR), freelancing
Junior: 720–960 · Experienced: 960–1,360 · Senior: 1,360–2,000+
When clearing an alert backlog, junior profiles handle the volume and an experienced professional decides the difficult cases – which keeps the average daily rate low. More on cost comparisons in the guide cost models for interim legal & compliance.
FAQ on interim sanctions compliance and export control
Does the professional decide whether we may ship?
No. They prepare the basis: alerts, classification, documents and a recommendation under your rules. Export and release decisions are made by your company, with your legal department or advisers on questions of interpretation.
Do we need a lawyer or is a compliance professional enough?
For screening alerts and master data, compliance profiles with tool experience are often sufficient. For contract clauses, complex ownership structures and licence applications we recommend legally trained project lawyers.
Can professionals work with our screening or export control system?
We include experience with your system in the requirements profile. Access, screening rules and permissions are granted by your company.
How does this differ from AML and KYC?
This is about goods, technology, business partners and shipments. Sanctions checks on bank customers and in payments belong to AML, KYC & financial crime compliance; in financial institutions the two teams often work closely together.
Can we set up a team quickly for a backlog?
Yes, typically with one experienced professional as lead and several junior profiles. You receive profiles within 48 hours; start date and team size are agreed with you.
Related services: KYC remediation and financial crime compliance · interim compliance officer · legal review and investigation support. All practice areas and occasions: interim legal & compliance for companies and law firms.
Discuss your needs: support for sanctions, customs and export control
Describe the task, volume and workload you need. Within 48 hours you receive selected profiles for sanctions compliance or export control.