Joint Proposal for a Council Regulation amending for the 193rd time Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with the Al Qaida network

Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 provides for the freezing of funds and economic resources of certain persons, groups and entities associated with the Al Qaida network.

On 21 February 2013 the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided to remove one natural person, Usama Muhammed Awad Bin Laden, from its list of persons, groups and entities to whom the freezing of funds and economic resources should apply. However, the Sanctions Committee decided that prior to the unfreezing of assets that have been frozen as a result of the listing of Mr Bin Laden, Member States shall submit to the Sanctions Committee a request to unfreeze such funds or economic resources and shall provide assurances that the funds or economic resources will not be transferred, directly or indirectly, to a listed person, group or entity.

In order to assure effective implementation of the decision of the Sanctions Committee, it is necessary to maintain the listing of Mr Bin Laden in Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 and provide for additional exemption from the freezing measures in accordance with paragraph 32 of UNSC Resolution 2083 (2012).

This measure falls 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 by economic operators in all Member States, regulatory action at the level of the Union is necessary in order to implement them. The High representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Europan Commission propose to amend Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 accordingly.

EUR-Lex: JOIN(2013)020: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=JOIN:2013:020:FIN

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