L_2010281EN.01000101.xml
| 27.10.2010 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | L 281/1 |
COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) No 961/2010
of 25 October 2010
on restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EC) No 423/2007
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 215 thereof,
Having regard to Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP of 26 July 2010 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Common Position 2007/140/CFSP (1),
Having regard to the joint proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission,
Whereas:
| (1) | On 26 July 2010, the Council approved Decision 2010/413/CFSP confirming the restrictive measures taken since 2007 and providing for additional restrictive measures against the Islamic Republic of Iran (‘Iran’) in order to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1929 (2010), as well as for accompanying measures as requested by the European Council in its Declaration of 17 June 2010. |
| (2) | Those restrictive measures comprise, in particular, additional restrictions on trade in dual-use goods and technology, as well as equipment which might be used for internal repression, restrictions on trade in key equipment and technology for, and restrictions on investment in the Iranian oil and gas industry, restrictions on Iranian investment in the uranium mining and nuclear industry, restrictions on transfers of funds to and from Iran, restrictions concerning the Iranian banking sector, restrictions on Iran's access to the insurance and bonds markets of the Union and restrictions on providing certain services to Iranian ships and cargo aircraft. |
| (3) | Decision 2010/413/CFSP also provided for additional categories of persons to be made subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources and for certain other technical amendments to existing measures. |
| (4) | Those restrictive measures fall within the scope of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and, therefore, notably with a view to ensuring their uniform application by economic operators in all Member States, legislation at the level of the Union is necessary in order to implement them as far as the Union is concerned. |
| (5) | Regulation (EC) No 423/2007 of 19 April 2007 concerning restrictive measures against Iran (2) enacted the restrictive measures taken by the Union further to Common Position 2007/140/CFSP (3). For the sake of clarity, Regulation (EC) No 423/2007 should be repealed and replaced by this Regulation. |
| (6) | The revised restrictive measures concerning dual-use goods should cover all goods and technology set out in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 of 5 May 2009 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items (4), with the exception of certain items in Category 5 thereof. Those Category 5 items which relate to nuclear and missile technology and are currently subject to a prohibition on their transfer to and from Iran should, nevertheless, remain subject to such prohibition. Moreover, a prohibition should also be imposed on the transfer to and from Iran of certain goods and technology which were previously subject to a prior authorisation requirement under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 423/2007. |
| (7) | In order to ensure the effective implementation of the prohibition on the sale, supply, transfer or export to Iran of certain key equipment or technology which could be used in the key sectors of the oil and natural gas industries, a list of such key equipment and technology should be provided. |
| (8) | In addition, to be effective, restrictions on investment in the Iranian oil and gas sector should cover certain key activities, such as bulk gas transmission services for the purpose of transit or delivery to directly interconnected grids, and, for the same reason, should apply to joint ventures as well as other forms of associations and cooperation with Iran in the sector of the transmission of natural gas. |
| (9) | The restrictive measures should not affect the import or export of oil or gas to and from Iran, including the fulfilment of payment obligations in connection with such import or export. |
| (10) | Effective restrictions on Iranian investment in the Union require that measures be taken to prohibit natural or legal persons, entities and bodies subject to the jurisdiction of the Member States from enabling or authorising such investment. |
| (11) | It is prohibited, pursuant to the obligation to freeze the funds and economic resources of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL) and of designated entities owned or controlled by IRISL to load and unload cargoes on and from vessels owned or chartered by IRISL or by such entities in ports of Member States. However, the obligation to freeze the funds and economic resources of IRISL and of designated entities owned or controlled by IRISL does not require the impounding or detention of vessels owned by such entities or the cargoes carried by them insofar as such cargoes belong to third parties, nor does it require the detention of the crew contracted by them. |
| (12) | It should be clarified that submitting and forwarding the necessary documents to a bank for the purpose of their final transfer to a person, entity or body that is not listed, to trigger payments allowed under Article 18 of this Regulation, does not constitute making funds available within the meaning of Article 16(3) of this Regulation. |
| (13) | This Regulation respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and notably the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial, the right to property and the right to protection of personal data. This Regulation should be applied in accordance with those rights and principles. |
| (14) | This Regulation also fully respects the obligations of Member States under the Charter of the United Nations and the legally binding nature of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. |
| (15) | The power to amend the lists in Annexes VII and VIII to this Regulation should be exercised by the Council, in view of the specific threat to international peace and security posed by Iran as manifested by the deepening concern about its nuclear programme underlined by the European Council on 17 June 2010, and to ensure consistency with the process for amending and reviewing Annexes I and II to Decision 2010/413/CFSP. |
| (16) | The procedure for amending the lists in Annexes VII and VIII to this Regulation should include providing designated natural or legal persons, entities or bodies with the grounds for listing, so as to give them an opportunity to submit observations. Where observations are submitted, or substantial new evidence is presented, the Council should review its decision in light of those observations and inform the person, entity or body concerned accordingly. |
| (17) | For the implementation of this Regulation, and to create maximum legal certainty within the Union, the names and other relevant data concerning natural and legal persons, entities and bodies whose funds and economic resources must be frozen in accordance with the Regulation, should be made public. Any processing of personal data of natural persons under this Regulation should respect Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (5) and Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (6). |
| (18) | In order to ensure that the measures provided for in this Regulation are effective, it should enter into force on the day of its publication, |
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
CHAPTER I
DEFINITIONS
Article 1
For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:
| (a) | ‘branch’ of a financial or credit institution means a place of business which forms a legally dependent part of a financial or credit institution and which carries out directly all or some of the transactions inherent in the business of financial or credit institutions; |
| (b) | ‘brokering services’ means:
| (i) | the negotiation or arrangement of transactions for the purchase, sale or supply of goods and technology from a third country to any other third country, or |
| (ii) | the selling or buying of goods and technology that are located in third countries for their transfer to another third country. | |
| (c) | ‘contract or transaction’ means any transaction of whatever form and whatever the applicable law, whether comprising one or more contracts or similar obligations made between the same or different parties; for this purpose ‘contract’ includes a bond, guarantee or indemnity, particularly a financial guarantee or financial indemnity, and credit, whether legally independent or not, as well as any related provision arising under, or in connection with, the transaction; |
| (d) | ‘credit institution’ means a credit institution as defined in Article 4(1) of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (7), including its branches inside or outside the Union; |
| (e) | ‘customs territory of the Union’ means the territory as defined in |
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