This is the fourth bulletin in our regular series on Iran sanctions.
Further to our note in September we have been informed by the European Commission that there are some delays in the adoption of the EU implementing Regulation and the final text would not be ready to be submitted to the European Council before the 25th of October. Apparently the European Council is putting pressure on the Commission and Member States to finalise the text of the Regulation for it to be adopted at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting of the 25th October, but if the final text of the Regulation is not agreed by then, it should nevertheless be adopted and published on the Official Journal before the end of October.
Finally, we were also informed by the European Commission that there were some changes in the text of the draft Implementing Regulation published on 30 August and in the list of designated entities.
Recent Sanctions Developments
Russia has axed its missile deal with Iran and says it will refrain from supplying Iran with an advanced missile defence system. In the last week of September Russia issued a Decree and has joined the UN sanctions against Iran. The decree bans the delivery of missile systems, and ships to Iran amongst other things and bans the financing, provision of insurance and reinsurance for Iranian companies which may be involved the nuclear programme.
The Chinese government has been enforcing the UN sanctions in relation to Iranian business in the last two months and there is no sign that such measures would be relaxed. China has not enforced the UN sanctions by way of domestic legislation however Hong Kong and Macao have promulgated the relevant legislation and therefore supervision in these regions should be stricter.
On the 6th October HM Treasury issued General Notice of Renewal of Article 4 Direction relating to Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2009. This Notice has been issued in respect of the financial measures taken against terrorism. A copy of the note can be found on the HM Treasury website. This Notice is to publicise generally that on 5 October 2010 the Treasury renewed the Direction under article 5(1) of the 2009 Order. Therefore the funds and economic resources of the designated person remain frozen. According to HM Treasury relevant institutions and other persons are requested to check whether they maintain any accounts or otherwise hold any funds or economic resources for, or provide financial services to, the designated person. If so, they must freeze such accounts or other funds and, unless licensed by the Treasury, refrain from dealing with or making available such funds and/or economic resources and suspend the provision of any financial services. Relevant institutions must report their findings to the Treasury.
On the 8th October HM Treasury announced that The Financial Restrictions (Iran) Order 2009 expired at midnight on Friday 8th October 2010. Bank Mellat and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) were designated persons for the purposes of the Financial Restrictions (Iran) Order 2009. Together with all their branches and certain named subsidiaries, Bank Mellat and IRISL continue to be subject to an EU asset freeze, under EU Regulation 423/2007 as amended by EU Regulation 668/2010 of 26 July 2010. The asset freeze must continue to be applied.
For the full details please see the HM Treasury notice.
Recent Developments in the News
Since our last bulletin the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has cautioned that Tehran will withdraw all of its assets from any country which shows unfriendly behaviour and imposes financial restrictions on Iran.
The United States, Britain and some other European countries have also considered the possibility of sanctioning the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which one Western diplomat described as the "kingpin" of Iran's efforts to conceal banned transactions outside Iran.
Recent Clyde & Co Articles
You can access related articles on our website at www.clydeco.com.
Our partners have been in the news recently Ben Knowles had an article published in Maritime Risk International regarding the EU sanctions on Iran and Martin Hall was quoted extensively on the front page of Lloyd's List regarding the salvage industry seeking exemption from the Iran sanctions.
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