Council Regulation (EU) 2023/1529 of 20 July 2023 concerning restrictive measures in view of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to armed groups and entities in the Middle East and the Red Sea region

Article 1

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

(a) ‘brokering services’ means: (i) the negotiation or arrangement of transactions for the purchase, sale or supply of goods and technology or of financial and technical services, including from a third country to any other third country; or (ii) the selling or buying of goods and technology or of financial and technical services, including where they are located in third countries for their transfer to another third country;

(b) ‘claim’ means any claim, whether asserted in 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, in particular: (i) a claim for the 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 in 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, in particular 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 I;

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

(f) ‘financing or financial assistance’ means any action, irrespective of the particular means chosen, whereby the person, entity or body concerned, conditionally or unconditionally, disburses or commits to disburse its own funds or economic resources, including but not limited to grants, loans, guarantees, suretyships, bonds, letters of credit, supplier credits, buyer credits, import or export advances and all types of insurance and reinsurance, including export credit insurance; payment as well as terms and conditions of payment of the agreed price for a good or a service, made in line with normal business practice, do not constitute financing or financial assistance;

(g) ‘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;

(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 and 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; (vii) documents showing evidence of an interest in funds or financial resources;

(i) ‘freezing of funds’ means preventing any movement, 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;

(j) ‘technical assistance’ means any technical support related to repairs, development, manufacture, assembly, testing, maintenance, or any other technical service, and may take forms such as instruction, advice, training, the transmission of working knowledge or skills or consulting services, including verbal forms of assistance;

(k) ‘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

1.   It shall be prohibited to sell, supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly, goods and technology which might contribute to Iran’s capability to manufacture Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as listed in Annex II, whether or not originating in the Union, to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Iran or for use in Iran.

The transit via the territory of Iran of the goods and technology, as referred to in the first subparagraph, exported from the Union, shall be prohibited.

2.   It shall be prohibited:

(a) to provide technical assistance, brokering services or other services related to goods and technology referred to in paragraph 1 and to the provision, manufacture, maintenance and use of those goods and technology, directly or indirectly to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Iran, or for use in Iran;

(b) to provide financing or financial assistance related to the goods and technology referred to in paragraph 1 for any sale, supply, transfer or export of those goods and technology, or for the provision of related technical assistance, brokering services or other services, directly or indirectly to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Iran, or for use in Iran;

(c) to sell, license or transfer in any other way intellectual property rights or trade secrets as well as grant rights to access or re-use any material or information protected by means of intellectual property rights or which constitute trade secrets related to the goods and technology referred to in paragraph 1 and to the provision, manufacture, maintenance and use of those goods and technology, directly or indirectly to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Iran or for use in Iran.

3.   By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, and without prejudice to the authorisation requirement pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/821, where applicable, competent authorities may authorise the sale, supply, transfer, transit or export of the goods and technology referred to in paragraph 1 or the provision of related technical or financial assistance, for non-military use and for a non-military end-user, after having determined that such goods or technology or the related technical or financial assistance are necessary for:

(a) medical or pharmaceutical purposes; or

(b) humanitarian purposes, health emergencies, the urgent prevention or mitigation of an event likely to have a serious and significant impact on human health and safety or on the environment, or as a response to natural disasters.

4.   Competent authorities may annul, suspend, modify or revoke an authorisation which they have granted pursuant to paragraph 3 if they deem that such annulment, suspension, modification or revocation is necessary for the effective implementation of this Regulation.

5.   Authorisations required pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/821 for the export of goods and technology referred to in paragraph 1 shall be granted separately by the relevant competent authorities in accordance with the rules and procedures laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/821. Such authorisations shall be valid throughout the Union.

6.   Communications of authorisations granted under Regulation (EU) 2021/821 shall follow the applicable procedure through the relevant channels referred to in Article 23 (6) of that Regulation (the ‘DUES system’).

7.   The prohibitions in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall not apply until 27 October 2023 to obligations arising from a contract concluded before 26 July 2023, or ancillary contracts necessary for the execution of such a contract.

Article 3

1.   All funds and economic resources belonging to, or owned, held or controlled by natural or legal persons, entities or bodies:

(a) responsible for, supporting or involved in Iran’s UAV or missile programme;

(b) supplying, selling or otherwise involved in transferring Iran’s UAVs or missiles or related technologies:

(i) to Russia in support of its war of aggression against Ukraine;

(ii) to armed groups and entities undermining peace and security in the Middle East and the Red Sea region;

(iii) to natural or legal persons, entities or bodies acting in breach of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216 (2015); or

(c) associated with natural or legal persons, entities or bodies referred to in point (a) or point (b);

as listed in Annex III, shall be frozen.

2.   No funds or economic resources shall be made available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of natural or legal persons, entities or bodies listed in Annex III.

Article 3a

By way of derogation from Article 3, competent authorities 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 the natural persons listed in Annex III 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 the payment of reasonable professional fees and the reimbursement of incurred expenses associated with the provision of legal services;

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

(d) necessary for extraordinary expenses, provided that the 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 the authorisation; or

(e) to be paid into or from an account belonging to a diplomatic mission, or consular post 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 mission, or consular post or international organisation.

Article 3b

By way of derogation from Article 3, competent authorities may authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources, or the making available of certain funds or economic resources, provided that 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 3(1) was listed in Annex III, or 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 III; and

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

Article 3c

By way of derogation from Article 3 and provided that a payment by a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex III is due under a contract or agreement that was concluded by, or under 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 III, competent authorities 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 shall be used for a payment by a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex III; and

(b) the payment is not in breach of Article 3(2).

Article 3d

1.   Article 3(2) shall not prevent the crediting of frozen accounts by financial or credit institutions that received funds transferred by third parties to the account of a listed natural or legal person, entity or body, provided that any additions to such accounts will also be frozen. The financial or credit institution shall inform the relevant competent authority of such transactions without delay.

2.   Paragraph 1 of Article 3 shall not apply to the addition to frozen accounts of interest or other earnings on those accounts, payments due under contracts, agreements or obligations that were concluded or arose prior to the date on which those accounts became subject to the measures provided for in Article 3, or payments due under judicial, administrative or arbitral decisions rendered in the Union or enforceable in the Member State concerned, provided that any such interest, other earnings and payments remain subject to the measures provided for in that paragraph.

Article 3e

1.   Article 3(2) shall not apply to funds or economic resources made available by organisations and agencies which are pillar-assessed by the Union and with which the Union has signed a financial framework partnership agreement on the basis of which the organisations and agencies act as humanitarian partners of the Union, provided that the provision of such funds or economic resources is necessary for exclusively humanitarian purposes in Iran.

2.   In cases not covered by paragraph 1 of this Article, and by way of derogation from Article 3, the competent authorities may grant specific or general authorisations, under such general or specific conditions as they deem appropriate, to release certain frozen funds or economic resources or to make available certain funds or economic resources, provided that the provision of such funds or economic resources is necessary for exclusively humanitarian purposes in Iran.

3.   In the absence of a negative decision, a request for information or a notification for additional time from the competent authority within five working days of the date of receipt of a request for authorisation under paragraph 2, the authorisation shall be considered granted.

4.   The Member State concerned shall inform the other Member States and the Commission of any authorisation granted under paragraphs 2 and 3 within two weeks of the granting of that authorisation.

Article 4

1.   Natural persons responsible for, supporting or involved in Iran’s UAV programme and natural persons associated with them, as listed in Annex III, shall be prevented from entering into, or transiting through, the territory of a Member State.

2.   Paragraph 1 shall not oblige a Member State to refuse its own nationals entry into its territory.

Article 5

1.   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 the amounts frozen in accordance with Article 3(1), to the competent authority of the Member State where they are established or located, and transmit such information, directly or through the Member State, to the Commission; and

(b) cooperate with the competent authority in any verification of the information referred to in point (a).

2.   The obligation in paragraph (1) shall apply subject to national rules regarding the confidentiality of information held by judicial authorities, and consistent with respect for the confidentiality of communications between lawyers and their clients guaranteed by Article 7 of the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

3.   Any additional information received directly by the Commission shall be made available to the Member States.

4.   Any information provided or received in accordance with this Article shall be used only for the purposes for which it was provided or received.

Article 6

1.   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 in respect of:

(a) funds frozen under Article 3 and authorisations granted under Articles 2, 3a, 3b and 3c; and

(b) infringements of the provisions of this Regulation, enforcement problems and judgments handed down by national courts.

2.   The Member States shall immediately inform each other and the Commission of any other relevant information at their disposal which might affect the effective implementation of this Regulation.

Article 7

1.   Where the Council decides to subject a natural or legal person, entity or body to the measures referred to in Article 3, it shall amend Annex III accordingly.

2.   The Council shall communicate a decision pursuant to paragraph 1, including the grounds for the listing, to the natural or legal person, entity or body concerned, either directly, if the address is known, or through the publication of a notice, providing that natural or legal person, entity or body with an opportunity to submit observations.

3.   Where observations are submitted, or where substantial new evidence is presented, the Council shall review the decision concerned and inform the natural or legal person, entity or body concerned accordingly.

4.   The list in Annex III shall be reviewed at regular intervals and at least every 12 months.

5.   The Commission shall be empowered to amend Annex I on the basis of information supplied by Member States.

Article 8

1.   Annex III shall include the grounds for the listing of the natural and legal persons, entities and bodies therein.

2.   Annex III shall contain, where available, the information necessary to identify the natural or legal persons, entities or bodies concerned. With regard to natural persons, such information may include names and aliases, date and place of birth, nationality, passport and identity card numbers, gender, address, if known; and function or profession. With regard to legal persons, entities or bodies, such information may include names, place and date of registration, registration number, and place of business.

Article 9

1.   Member States shall lay down rules on the penalties applicable to infringements of the provisions of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

2.   Member States shall notify the Commission of the laying down of the rules referred to in paragraph 1 without delay after the entry into force of this Regulation and shall subsequently notify it of any amendments thereto.

Article 10

1.   The freezing of funds and economic resources or the refusal to make funds or economic resources available, carried out in good faith on the basis that such action is in accordance with this Regulation, shall not give rise to liability of any kind on the part of the natural or legal person or entity or body implementing it, or its directors or employees, unless it is proved that the funds and economic resources were frozen or withheld as a result of negligence.

2.   Actions by natural or legal persons, entities or bodies shall not give rise to any liability of any kind on their part if they did not know, and had no reasonable cause to suspect, that their actions would infringe the measures set out in this Regulation.

Article 11

1.   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, in particular a claim for extension or payment of a bond, guarantee or indemnity, or 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 III;

(b) any other Iranian person, entity or body;

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

2.   In any proceedings for the enforcement of a claim, the onus of proving that the satisfying of the claim is not prohibited by paragraph 1 shall be on the natural or legal person, entity or body seeking the enforcement of that claim.

3.   This Article is without prejudice to the right of the natural or legal persons, entities and bodies referred to in paragraph 1 to seek judicial review of the legality of the non-performance of contractual obligations in accordance with this Regulation.

Article 12

1.   It shall be prohibited to participate, knowingly or intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the prohibitions set out in this Regulation.

2.   Natural or legal persons, entities or bodies listed in Annex III, shall:

(a) report within six weeks from the date of listing in Annex III funds or economic resources within the jurisdiction of a Member State belonging to, owned, held or controlled by them, to the competent authorities of the Member State in which those funds or economic resources are located; and

(b) cooperate with the competent authorities concerned in the verification of such information.

3.   Failure to comply with paragraph 2 shall be considered as participation, as referred to in paragraph 1, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the measures referred to in Article 3.

4.   The Member State concerned shall inform the Commission within two weeks of the reporting of information pursuant to paragraph 2(a).

5.   Any information provided or received in accordance with this Article shall be used only for the purposes for which it was provided or received.

6.   Any processing of personal data pursuant to this Article shall be carried out in accordance with this Regulation and Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725 and only insofar as is necessary for the application of this Regulation.

Article 13

1.   The Council, the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (the ‘High Representative’) shall process personal data in order to carry out their tasks under this Regulation. These tasks shall include:

(a) as regards the Council, preparing and making amendments to Annex III;

(b) as regards the High Representative, preparing amendments to Annex III;

(c) as regards the Commission: (i) adding the contents of Annex III to the electronic, consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to Union financial sanctions and to the interactive sanctions map, both of which are publicly available; (ii) processing information on the impact of the measures provided for in this Regulation, such as the value of frozen funds and information on authorisations granted by the competent authorities.

2.   The Council, the Commission and the High Representative may process, where applicable, relevant data relating to criminal offences committed by listed natural persons, to criminal convictions of such persons or to security measures concerning such persons only to the extent that such processing is necessary for the preparation of Annex III.

3.   For the purposes of this Regulation, the Council, the Commission and the High Representative are designated as ‘controller’ within the meaning of point (8) of Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 in order to ensure that the natural persons concerned can exercise their rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.

Article 14

1.   Member States shall designate the competent authorities referred to in this Regulation and identify them on the websites listed in Annex I. Member States shall notify the Commission of any changes in the addresses of their websites as listed in Annex I.

2.   Member States shall notify the Commission of the designation of their competent authorities, including the contact details of those competent authorities, without delay after the entry into force of this Regulation, and shall subsequently notify it of any change of designation.

3.   Where this Regulation sets out a requirement to notify, inform or otherwise communicate with the Commission, the address and other contact details to be used for such communication shall be those indicated in Annex I.

Article 15

Any information provided to or received by the Commission in accordance with this Regulation shall be used by the Commission only for the purposes for which it was provided or received.

Article 16

This Regulation shall apply:

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

(b) on board any aircraft or 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 17

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.

ANNEX I - Websites for information on competent authorities and the address for notifications to the Commission

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ANNEX II - List of items referred to in Article 2

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ANNEX III - List of natural and legal persons, entities and bodies referred to in Article 3

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