The chapter examines, from a legal perspective, measures which in common parlance are called “EU sanctions” but which are referred to in the Treaty as “restrictive measures”. It gives a practical, and critical, introduction to the subject, with focus on criminal law aspects. It deals with the following issues: how sanctions work, the legal base for EU sanctions and an overview of the types of sanctions adopted by the EU. It thereafter turns to the legal problems which emerged with the EU implementation of UN sanctions in the Kadi case as well as the legal problems encountered by the EU’s increased use of its own (“autonomous”) anti-terrorist and “regime” sanctions. The chapter then examines the different ways in which sanctions law and criminal law can interact, before closing with a number of concluding remarks on the effectiveness of sanctions.