Section 144 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 (c. 3) (“the 2017 Act”) modifies the application of the European Communities Act 1972 (c.68) (“the 1972 Act”) to enable higher maximum terms of imprisonment for offences relating to EU financial sanctions regimes, to bring these into line with breaches of the UK and EU terrorist asset freezing regimes. Subsections (4) and (5) of section 144 also enable the power in section 2(2) of the 1972 Act to be used to extend the maximum criminal penalties for breaches of EU financial sanctions regimes in respect of criminal offences that have already been created.