Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2041 of 23 October 2025 amending Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine

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 (CFSP) 2025/2040 of 23 October 2025 amending Decision 2012/642/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine (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 18 May 2006, the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 (2).

(2) Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 gives effect to the measures provided for in Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP (3).

(3) On 23 October 2025, the Council adopted Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 which amends Decision 2012/642/CFSP.

(4) Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 considers it appropriate to expand the list of items which might contribute to Belarus’s military and technological enhancement or to the development of its defence and security sector by adding items which have been used by Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine and items which contribute to the development or production of Belarus’s military systems, including electronic components, rangefinders, additional chemicals used in the preparation of propellants, and additional metals, oxides and alloys used in the manufacturing of military systems.

(5) Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 considers it appropriate to expand the list of goods subject to export restrictions which might contribute to the enhancement of Belarusian industrial capacities, such as salts and ores, articles of rubber, tubes, tyres, millstones and construction materials.

(6) Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 imposes further restrictions on the provision, to the Republic of Belarus, its Government, its public bodies, corporations or agencies or to any natural or legal person, entity or body acting on their behalf or at their direction, of software with certain uses in the banking and financial sector and services that contribute to enhancing Belarus’ technological capacities, namely the provision of certain commercial space-based services, certain artificial intelligence services, and high-performance computing and quantum computing services. Moreover, Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 expands the scope of current restrictions to cover not only technical testing and analysis, as classified in class 8676 of the Central Products Classification as set out in Statistical Office of the United Nations, Statistical Papers, Series M, No 77, CPC prov., 1991, but also other services which form group 867 of the Central Products Classification. These services notably include, as classified in class 8675, the following engineering related scientific and technical consulting services: geological, geophysical and other scientific prospecting, subsurface surveying, surface surveying and map-making services.

(7) In view of Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine, in which Belarus is involved, any further provision of services to the Republic of Belarus, its Government, its public bodies, corporations or agencies should be assessed ex ante by a competent authority, in order to mitigate the risk of a service contributing to Belarus’s military, technological or industrial capacity. Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 therefore introduces a requirement for prior authorisation by the competent authority for any services provided to the Republic of Belarus, its Government, its public bodies, corporations or agencies which are not already subject to the restrictive measures set out in Regulation (EC) No 765/2006.

(8) Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 imposes restrictions on the provision of crypto-asset services, on the provision of the payment services referred to in point 5 and 7 of Annex I to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), and on the issuing of electronic money to Belarusian nationals, natural persons residing in Belarus, and legal persons, entities or bodies established in Belarus, in view of the importance of those services to the development of Belarus’s financial technology and e-commerce sectors and the potential use of crypto-asset services to circumvent restrictive measures. Those restrictions do not extend to the execution of payment transactions as referred to in points 3 and 4 of Annex I to Directive (EU) 2015/2366. The restrictions on the provision of payment services should not be understood as imposing obligations on payment initiation service providers to determine the nationality, residence or place of establishment of payment service users on a transaction-by-transaction basis, nor on acquirers of payment transactions to conduct sanctions screening of individual payment card transactions. Primary responsibility for sanctions compliance in relation to the execution of payment transactions rests with the account-servicing payment service provider. The restrictions on the provision of crypto-asset services are also binding on crypto-asset service providers operating under the transitional regime set out in Article 143(3) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5).

(9) Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 adds exemptions necessary for humanitarian purposes, for the export, sale, supply, transfer or transport of pharmaceutical, medical or agricultural and food products, to ensure access to judicial, administrative or arbitral proceedings in a Member State, as well as for the recognition or enforcement of a judgment or an arbitration award rendered in a Member State. Those exemptions and derogation are without prejudice to the prohibition on operators in the Union to provide financial messaging services to the entities listed in Annex XV to Regulation (EC) No 765/2006.

(10) In order to further decrease Belarus’s revenues, Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 considers it appropriate to extend the prohibition to purchase, import or transfer certain items which allow Belarus to diversify its sources of revenue to all acyclic hydrocarbons.

(11) Finally, it is also appropriate to make certain technical amendments in the operative text and annexes to improve the accuracy and clarity of certain provisions of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006.

(12) These measures fall within the scope of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and therefore, in particular with a view to ensuring their uniform application in all Member States, regulatory action at the level of the Union is necessary.

(13) Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 is amended as follows:

(3) in Article 1ga, paragraph 5 is deleted;

(5) in Article 1ra, the following paragraph is inserted: ‘9b.   With regard to the goods falling under the CN code 2901 10 00, the prohibitions in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to the execution until 25 January 2026 of contracts concluded before 24 October 2025, or of ancillary contracts necessary for the execution of such contracts. 9c.   As of 26 January 2026 until 25 July 2026, the prohibitions in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to the purchase or import to Hungary of goods falling under CN code 2901 10 00 originating in Belarus or exported from Belarus, provided that the goods are intended for exclusive use in Hungary. 9d.   Goods falling under CN code 2901 10 00 imported to Hungary following the exemption in paragraph 9c shall not be sold on to buyers located in another Member State or in a third country.’

(9) in Article 1w, the introductory wording is replaced by the following: ‘1.   By way of derogation from Article 1u(1) and (2), the competent authorities may authorise the acceptance of such a deposit or provision of such a service, under such conditions as they deem appropriate, after having determined that the acceptance of such a deposit or provision of such a service is necessary for:’

(11) the Annexes are amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that 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.

Done at Brussels, 23 October 2025.

For the Council The President M. BJERRE

(1) OJ L, 2025/2040, 23.10.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2025/2040/oj.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 of 18 May 2006 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine (OJ L 134, 20.5.2006, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/765/oj).

(3) Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine (OJ L 285, 17.10.2012, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2012/642/oj).

(4) Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC ((OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2015/2366/oj).

(5) Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets, and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (OJ L 150, 9.6.2023, p. 40, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1114/oj).