From Saturday 31 October, the following amendments to the EU’s sanctions against Belarus will come into force: In response to the release of all Belarusian political prisoners on 22 August and the improvement of relations between the EU and Belarus, the EU will suspend the asset freeze and travel ban against 171 individuals and the asset freeze against 10 entities in Belarus (including Beltechexport, Beltech Holding and Spetspriborservice) until 29 February 2016, when this will…

The EU Council has today made its first designations in respect of Burundi by the designation of four Burundian nationals whose activities are said to be undermining democracy in Burundi or obstructing efforts to achieve a political solution to the current crisis in Burundi, pursuant to Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1755 and Council Decision (CFSP) 2015/1763. The individuals are:  • Godefroid BIZIMANA  • Gervais NDIRAKOBUCA alias NDAKUGARIKA  • Mathias/Joseph NIYONZIMA alias KAZUNGU  • Léonard NGENDAKUMANA  The individuals have not…

The EU has implemented Regulation (EU) 2015/1324 amending Regulation (EU) 204/2011. In doing so, the EU has made a further exception to its arms embargo on Libya for military equipment that will not be used for internal repression and is intended solely for security or disarmament assistance to the Libyan government and is approved in advance by the UN sanctions committee on Libya. Regulation (EU) 2015/1324 also made some minor changes to the wording of…

On 8 June 2015, the Council of the European Union announced that it proposed to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2216 (2015) of 14 April 2015 and impose travel bans and asset freezes on two additional Yemeni individuals over their actions against Yemen’s peace and stability, and impose an arms embargo against those who are subject to these restrictions in respect of Yemen (which also covers the provision of technical and financial assistance related to military…