On the 4th August 2016, the European Union amended its restrictive measures on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK”) to implement new measures against the DPRK as set out in UN Resolution 2270, adopted by the Security Council on 2nd March 2016.
Further to our blog post setting out the Council of the EU’s decision to adopt further new restrictions on fund transfers, trade, investment and transport relating to the DPRK, the relevant implementing legislation has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (Council Regulation (EU) 2016/841 of 27 May 2016 (the “Regulation“) and Council Decision (CFSP) 2016/849 of 27 May 2016 (the “Decision“)). The Regulation and Decision enter into force tomorrow (29 May 2016).
According to a press release from the Council of the EU, the EU has adopted further new restrictions on fund transfers, trade, investment and transport relating to the DPRK. These are significant changes, to the extent the controls on transfers to/from DPRK are drafted as broadly as they previously were for Iran. The Council states the relevant legislation will be published tomorrow; this will include the decision (binding on EU Member States), and will likely also include the regulation (“Regulation“) (binding on private parties).
The EU has amended the regulation underpinning its sanctions regime on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (“DPRK”).
On 4 May 2016 (Council Regulation (EU) 2016/682) (the “EU Regulation“) entered into force. The EU Regulation implements the UN’s wide-ranging sanctions in the EU and expands the current EU sanctions regime against DPRK, amending Regulation 392/2007 (“the Old Regulation”). The adoption of the EU Regulation follows the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of Resolution 2270 (2016) (the “UN Resolution“) on 2 March 2016 after the latest nuclear test and rocket launch by DPRK on 6 January 2016 and 7 February 2016 respectively.
It also follows the subsequent adoption by the European Council of Regulation (EU) 2016/315 and Council Decision (CFSP) 2016/319 of 4 March 2016 (“the March Decision”), adding 16 individuals and 12 entities to its list of designated persons (“DPs“). Please see our earlier “UN, US, EU and Switzerland impose tough new sanctions on North Korea as a result of its nuclear programme” blog post for further details on the March Decision.