Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1542 of 15 October 2018 concerning restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons

Article 1

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘chemical weapons’ means chemical weapons as defined in Article II of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC);

(b) ‘claim’ means any claim, whether asserted by legal proceedings or not, made before or after the date of entry into force of this Regulation, under or in connection with a contract or transaction, and includes in particular: (i) a claim for performance of any obligation arising under or in connection with a contract or transaction; (ii) a claim for extension or payment of a bond, financial guarantee or indemnity of whatever form; (iii) a claim for compensation in respect of a contract or transaction; (iv) a counterclaim; (v) a claim for the recognition or enforcement, including by the procedure of exequatur, of a judgment, an arbitration award or an equivalent decision, wherever made or given;

(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) ‘competent authorities’ refers to the competent authorities of the Member States as identified on the websites listed in Annex II;

(e) ‘economic resources’ means assets of any kind, whether tangible or intangible, movable or immovable, which are not funds, but may be used to obtain funds, goods or services;

(f) ‘freezing of economic resources’ means preventing the use of economic resources to obtain funds, goods or services in any way, including, but not limited to, by selling, hiring or mortgaging them;

(g) ‘freezing of funds’ means preventing any move, transfer, alteration, use of, access to, or dealing with funds in any way that would result in any change in their volume, amount, location, ownership, possession, character, destination or other change that would enable the funds to be used, including portfolio management;

(h) ‘funds’ means financial assets and benefit of every kind, including, but not limited to: (i) cash, cheques, claims on money, drafts, money orders and other payment instruments; (ii) deposits with financial institutions or other entities, balances on accounts, debts and debt obligations; (iii) publicly- or privately-traded securities and debt instruments, including stocks and shares, certificates representing securities, bonds, notes, warrants, debentures and derivatives contracts; (iv) interest, dividends or other income on or value accruing from or generated by assets; (v) credit, right of set-off, guarantees, performance bonds or other financial commitments; (vi) letters of credit, bills of lading, bills of sale; and (vii) documents showing evidence of an interest in funds or financial resources;

(i) ‘territory of the Union’ means the territories of the Member States to which the Treaty is applicable, under the conditions laid down in the Treaty, including their airspace.

Article 2

Annex I shall include natural or legal persons, entities and bodies which, in accordance with Article 3(1) of Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/1544, have been identified by the Council as:

(a) natural or legal persons, entities or bodies which are responsible for, or provide financial, technical or material support for or are otherwise involved in: (i) manufacturing, acquiring, possessing, developing, transporting, stockpiling or transferring chemical weapons; (ii) using chemical weapons; or (iii) engaging in any preparations for the use of chemical weapons;

(b) natural or legal persons, entities or bodies which assist, encourage or induce any natural or legal person, entity or body to engage in any activity referred to in point (a) of this paragraph and thereby cause or contribute to a danger that such activities may be carried out; and

(c) natural or legal persons, entities or bodies associated with the natural or legal persons, entities and bodies covered by points (a) and (b) of this paragraph.

Article 2a

Article 3

By way of derogation from Article 2, the competent authorities of the Member States may authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources, or the making available of certain funds or economic resources, under such conditions as they deem appropriate, after having determined that the funds or economic resources concerned are:

(a) necessary to satisfy the basic needs of natural or legal persons, entities or bodies listed in Annex I and dependent family members of such natural persons, including payments for foodstuffs, rent or mortgage, medicines and medical treatment, taxes, insurance premiums, and public utility charges;

(b) intended exclusively for payment of reasonable professional fees or reimbursement of incurred expenses associated with the provision of legal services;

(c) intended exclusively for payment of fees or service charges for routine holding or maintenance of frozen funds or economic resources;

(d) necessary for extraordinary expenses, provided that the relevant competent authority has notified the competent authorities of the other Member States and the Commission of the grounds on which it considers that a specific authorisation should be granted, at least two weeks prior to authorisation; or

(e) to be paid into or from an account of a diplomatic or consular mission or an international organisation enjoying immunities in accordance with international law, insofar as such payments are intended to be used for official purposes of the diplomatic or consular mission or international organisation.

Article 4

By way of derogation from Article 2(1), the competent authorities of the Member States may authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources if the following conditions are met:

(a) the funds or economic resources are the subject of an arbitral decision rendered prior to the date on which the natural or legal person, entity or body referred to in Article 2 was listed in Annex I, or are the subject of a judicial or administrative decision rendered in the Union or a judicial decision enforceable in the Member State concerned, prior to or after that date;

(b) the funds or economic resources will be used exclusively to satisfy claims secured by such a decision or recognised as valid in such a decision, within the limits set by applicable laws and regulations governing the rights of persons having such claims;

(c) the decision is not for the benefit of a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex I; and

(d) recognising the decision is not contrary to public policy in the Member State concerned.

Article 5

By way of derogation from Article 2(1) and provided that a payment by a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex I is due under a contract or agreement that was concluded by, or an obligation that arose for, the natural or legal person, entity or body concerned before the date on which that natural or legal person, entity or body was included in Annex I, the competent authorities of the Member States may authorise, under such conditions as they deem appropriate, the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources, provided that the competent authority concerned has determined that:

(a) the funds or economic resources will be used for a payment by a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex I; and

(b) the payment is not in breach of Article 2(2).

Article 6

Article 2 (2) shall not apply to the addition to frozen accounts of:

(a) interest or other earnings on those accounts;

(b) payments due under contracts, agreements or obligations that were concluded or arose before the date on which the natural or legal person, entity or body referred to in Article 2 was included in Annex I; or

(c) payments due under judicial, administrative or arbitral decisions rendered in a Member State or enforceable in the Member State concerned.

Article 7

Without prejudice to the applicable rules concerning reporting, confidentiality and professional secrecy, natural and legal persons, entities and bodies shall:

(a) supply immediately any information which would facilitate compliance with this Regulation, such as information on accounts and amounts frozen in accordance with Article 2, to the competent authority of the Member State where they are resident or located, and they shall transmit such information, directly or through the Member State, to the Commission; and

(b) cooperate with the competent authority in any verification of this information.

Article 8

It shall be prohibited to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the measures referred to in Article 2.

Article 9

Article 10

No claims in connection with any contract or transaction, the performance of which has been affected, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by the measures imposed under this Regulation, including claims for indemnity or any other claim of this type, such as a claim for compensation or a claim under a guarantee, notably a claim for extension or payment of a bond, guarantee or indemnity, particularly a financial guarantee or financial indemnity, of whatever form, shall be satisfied, if they are made by:

(a) designated natural or legal persons, entities or bodies listed in Annex I;

(b) any natural or legal person, entity or body acting through or on behalf of one of the persons, entities or bodies referred to in point (a).

Article 11

The Commission and Member States shall inform each other of the measures taken under this Regulation and share any other relevant information at their disposal in connection with this Regulation, in particular information:

(a) in respect of funds frozen under Article 2 and authorisations granted under Articles 3, 4 and 5;

(b) in respect of violation and enforcement problems and judgments handed down by national courts.

Article 12

Article 13

Article 14

Article 15

The Commission shall process personal data in order to carry out its tasks under this Regulation. These tasks include:

(a) adding the contents of Annex I in the electronic ‘Consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to EU financial sanctions’ and in the interactive EU Sanctions Map, which are both accessible to the public;

(b) processing of information on the impact of the measures of this Regulation such as the value of frozen funds and information on authorisations granted by the competent authorities.

Article 16

Article 17

This Regulation shall apply:

(a) within the territory of the Union, including its airspace;

(b) on board of any aircraft or any vessel under the jurisdiction of a Member State;

(c) to any natural person inside or outside the territory of the Union who is a national of a Member State;

(d) to any legal person, entity or body, inside or outside the territory of the Union, which is incorporated or constituted under the law of a Member State;

(e) to any legal person, entity or body in respect of any business done in whole or in part within the Union.

Article 18

This Regulation shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I

LIST OF NATURAL AND LEGAL PERSONS, ENTITIES AND BODIES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 2

A. NATURAL PERSONS