Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1998 of 7 December 2020 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses

This Regulation applies to:

1. genocide;

2. crimes against humanity;

3. the following serious human rights violations or abuses:

   1. torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

   2. slavery;

   3. extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings;

   4. enforced disappearance of persons;

   5. arbitrary arrests or detentions;

4. other human rights violations or abuses, including but not limited to the following, in so far as those violations or abuses are widespread, systematic or are otherwise of serious concern as regards the objectives of the common foreign and security policy set out in Article 21 TEU:

   1. trafficking in human beings, as well as abuses of human rights by migrant smugglers as referred to in this Article;

   2. sexual and gender-based violence;

   3. violations or abuses of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;

   4. violations or abuses of freedom of opinion and expression;

   5. violations or abuses of freedom of religion or belief.

For the purpose of applying paragraph 1, regard should be had to customary international law and widely accepted instruments of international law, such as:

1. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

2. the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

3. the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,

4. the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

5. the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;

6. the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

7. the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

8. the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;

9. the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

10. the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;

11. the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

12. the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

For the purposes of applying this Regulation, natural or legal persons, entities or bodies may include:

1. State actors;

2. other actors exercising effective control or authority over a territory;

3. other non-State actors, subject to Article 1(4) of Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999.

All funds and economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by any natural or legal person, entity or body as listed in Annex I shall be frozen.

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 I.

Annex I shall include, as identified by the Council in accordance with Article 3 of Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999:

1. natural or legal persons, entities or bodies, who are responsible for acts set out in Article 2(1);

2. natural or legal persons, entities or bodies, who provide financial, technical, or material support for or are otherwise involved in acts set out in Article 2(1), including by planning, directing, ordering, assisting, preparing, facilitating, or encouraging such acts;

3. natural or legal persons, entities or bodies, who are associated with the natural or legal persons, entities or bodies covered by points (a) and (b).

By way of derogation from Article 3, 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:

1. 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 food, rent or mortgage, medicines and medical treatment, taxes, insurance premiums, and public utility charges;

2. intended exclusively for the payment of reasonable professional fees or the reimbursement of incurred expenses associated with the provision of legal services;

3. intended exclusively for the payment of fees or service charges for the routine holding or maintenance of frozen funds or economic resources;

4. 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 the authorisation; or

5. 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.

The Member State concerned shall inform the other Member States and the Commission of any authorisation granted under paragraph 1 within two weeks of the authorisation.

Article 3(1) and (2) shall not apply to the making available of funds or economic resources necessary to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities that support basic human needs where such assistance and other activities are carried out by:

1. the United Nations (UN), including its programmes, funds and other entities and bodies, as well as its specialised agencies and related organisations;

2. international organisations;

3. humanitarian organisations having observer status with the UN General Assembly and members of those humanitarian organisations;

4. bilaterally or multilaterally funded non-governmental organisations participating in UN Humanitarian Response Plans, UN Refugee Response Plans, other UN appeals or humanitarian clusters coordinated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs;

5. organisations and agencies to which the Union has granted the Humanitarian Partnership Certificate or which are certified or recognised by a Member State in accordance with national procedures;

6. Member States’ specialised agencies; or

7. employees, grantees, subsidiaries, or implementing partners of the entities referred to in points (a) to (f) while and to the extent that they are acting in those capacities.

The exemption set out in paragraph -1 shall not apply to the natural or legal persons, entities or bodies identified with an asterisk in Annex I.

Without prejudice to paragraph -1, and by way of derogation from Article 3(1) and (2), the competent authorities of a Member State 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 provision of such funds or economic resources is necessary to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities that support basic human needs.

In the absence of a negative decision, a request for information or a notification for additional time from the relevant competent authority within 5 working days of the date of receipt of a request for authorisation under paragraph 1, that authorisation shall be considered granted.

The Member State concerned shall inform the other Member States and the Commission of any authorisation granted under this Article within 4 weeks of such authorisation.