S.I. No. [ 137 ] of 2003

REGULATIONS

entitled

European Communities (Usama bin Laden, Al-Qaida and Taliban of Afghanistan)(Sanctions) Regulations 2003

I, Charlie McCreevy, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 ( No. 27 of 1972 ) and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Regulation (EC) No. 881/2002 of 27 May 2002¹ as amended, hereby make the following Regulations:

1.       These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Usama bin Laden, Al-Qaida and Taliban of Afghanistan) (Sanctions) Regulations 2003.

2.       (1) In these Regulations --

“Central Bank” means Central Bank of Ireland;

“Council Regulations” means Council Regulations (EC) No. 881/2002 of 27 May 2002¹ , as amended by:

a.     Council Regulation (EC) No. 561/2003 of 27 March 2003² ,

b.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 951/2002 of 3 June 2002³ ,

c.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1580/2002 of 4 September 2002⁴ ,

d.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1644/2002 of 13 September 2002⁵ ,

e.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1754/2002 of 1 October 2002⁶ ,

f.      Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1823/2002 of 11 October 2002⁷ ,

g.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1893/2002 of 23 October 2002⁸ ,

h.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1935/2002 of 29 October 2002⁹ ,

i.      Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2083/2002 of 22 November 2002¹⁰ ,

j.      Commission Regulation (EC) No. 145/2003 of 27 January 2003¹¹ ,

k.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 215/2003 of 3 February 2003¹² ,

l.      Commission Regulation (EC) No. 244/2003 of 7 February 2003¹³ ,

m.    Commission Regulation (EC) No. 342/2003 of 21 February 2003¹⁴ ,

n.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 350/2003 of 25 February 2003¹⁵ ,

o.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 370/2003 of 27 February 2003¹⁶ and,

p.     Commission Regulation (EC) No. 414/2003 of 5 March 2003¹⁷ ;

“persons” includes a natural or legal person, group, entity or body.

(2)      A word or expression that is used in these Regulations has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning that it has in the Council Regulation.

3.       A person who transfers funds or economic resources that are frozen by virtue of the Council Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

4.       A person who makes available funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of, any person listed in Annex I to the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence.

5.       Without prejudice to the generality of Regulations 3 and 4 of these Regulations, the Central Bank may, for the purposes of the supervision of financial transfers and for the administration and enforcement of these Regulations and the Council Regulation, give such directions or issue such instructions to a person as it sees fit.

6.       A person to whom a direction has been given or an instruction issued under Regulation 5 of these Regulations shall comply with such direction or instruction.

7.       A person who fails to comply with a direction given or an instruction issued under Regulation 5 of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

8.       A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.

9.       Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent, connivance or approval of or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that the person as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first mentioned offence.

10.     The European Communities (Usama bin Laden, Al-Qaida and Taliban of Afghanistan) (Sanctions) Regulations 2002 [ S.I. No. 554 of 2002 ] is revoked.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Statutory Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

The Regulation provides for penalties for breach of financial sanctions against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban of Afghanistan imposed by Council Regulation (EC) No. 881/2002 of 27 May 2002 as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 561/2003 of 27 March, 2003 and the Commission Regulations referred to in this Regulation.

¹ OJ No.L139, 29.5.2002, p.9.

¹ OJ No.L139, 29.5.2002, p.9.

² OJ No.L82, 29.3.2003, p.1.

³ OJ No.L145, 4.6.2002, p.14.

⁴ OJ No.L237, 5.9.2002, p.3.

⁵ OJ No. L247, 14.9.2002, p.25.

⁶ OJ No.L264, 2.10.2002, p.23.

⁷ OJ No.L276, 12.10.2002, p.26.

⁸ OJ No.L286, 24.10.2002, p.19.

⁹ OJ No.L295, 30.10.2002, p.11.

¹⁰ OJ No. L319, 23.11.2002, p.22

¹¹ OJ No. L23, 28.1.2003, p.22

¹² OJ No. L28, 4.2.2003, p.41

¹³ OJ No. L33, 8.2.2003, p.28

¹⁴ OJ No. L49, 22.2.2003, p.13

¹⁵ OJ No. L51, 26.2.2003, p.19

¹⁶ OJ No. L53, 28.2.2003, p.33

¹⁷ OJ No. L62, 6.3.2003, p.24