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Document 02020R1998-20210302
Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1998 of 7 December 2020 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses
Consolidated text: Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1998 of 7 December 2020 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses
Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1998 of 7 December 2020 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses
02020R1998 — EN — 02.03.2021 — 001.001
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COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2020/1998 of 7 December 2020 concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses (OJ L 410I 7.12.2020, p. 1) |
Amended by:
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Official Journal |
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No |
page |
date |
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COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2021/371 of 2 March 2021 |
L 71I |
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2.3.2021 |
COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2020/1998
of 7 December 2020
concerning restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses
Article 1
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
‘claim’ means any claim, whether asserted by legal proceedings or not, made before or after the date of entry into force of this Regulation, under or in connection with a contract or transaction, and in particular:
a claim for performance of any obligation arising under or in connection with a contract or transaction;
a claim for extension or payment of a bond, financial guarantee or indemnity of whatever form;
a claim for compensation in respect of a contract or transaction;
a counterclaim;
a claim for the recognition or enforcement, including by the procedure of exequatur, of a judgment, an arbitration award or an equivalent decision, wherever made or given;
‘contract or transaction’ means any transaction of whatever form and whatever the applicable law, whether comprising one or more contracts or similar obligations made between the same or different parties; for that purpose ‘contract’ includes a bond, guarantee or indemnity, particularly a financial guarantee or financial indemnity, and credit, whether legally independent or not, as well as any related provision arising under, or in connection with, the transaction;
‘competent authorities’ refers to the competent authorities of the Member States as identified on the websites listed in Annex II;
‘economic resources’ means assets of every kind, whether tangible or intangible, movable or immovable, which are not funds, but may be used to obtain funds, goods or services;
‘freezing of economic resources’ means preventing the use of economic resources to obtain funds, goods or services in any way, including, but not limited to, by selling, hiring or mortgaging them;
‘freezing of funds’ means preventing any move, transfer, alteration, use of, access to, or dealing with funds in any way that would result in any change in their volume, amount, location, ownership, possession, character, destination or other change that would enable the funds to be used, including portfolio management;
‘funds’ means financial assets and benefits of every kind, including, but not limited to:
cash, cheques, claims on money, drafts, money orders and other payment instruments;
deposits with financial institutions or other entities, balances on accounts, debts and debt obligations;
publicly- and privately-traded securities and debt instruments, including stocks and shares, certificates representing securities, bonds, notes, warrants, debentures and derivatives contracts;
interest, dividends or other income on or value accruing from or generated by assets;
credit, right of set-off, guarantees, performance bonds or other financial commitments;
letters of credit, bills of lading, bills of sale;
documents showing evidence of an interest in funds or financial resources;
‘territory of the Union’ means the territories of the Member States to which the Treaty on European Union (TEU) is applicable, under the conditions laid down in the TEU, including their airspace.
Article 2
This Regulation applies to:
genocide;
crimes against humanity;
the following serious human rights violations or abuses:
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
slavery;
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings;
enforced disappearance of persons;
arbitrary arrests or detentions;
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:
trafficking in human beings, as well as abuses of human rights by migrant smugglers as referred to in this Article;
sexual and gender-based violence;
violations or abuses of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;
violations or abuses of freedom of opinion and expression;
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:
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
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:
State actors;
other actors exercising effective control or authority over a territory;
other non-State actors, subject to Article 1(4) of Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999.
Article 3
Annex I shall include, as identified by the Council in accordance with Article 3 of Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999:
natural or legal persons, entities or bodies, who are responsible for acts set out in Article 2(1);
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;
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).
Article 4
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:
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;
intended exclusively for the payment of reasonable professional fees or the reimbursement of incurred expenses associated with the provision of legal services;
intended exclusively for the payment of fees or service charges for the routine holding or maintenance of frozen funds or economic resources;
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
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.
Article 5
Article 6
By way of derogation from Article 3(1), the competent authorities of the Member States may authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources, if the following conditions are met:
the funds or economic resources are the subject of an arbitral decision rendered prior to the date on which the natural or legal person, entity or body referred to in Article 3 was listed in Annex I, or of a judicial or administrative decision rendered in the Union, or a judicial decision enforceable in the Member State concerned, prior to or after that date;
the funds or economic resources will be used exclusively to satisfy claims secured by such a decision or recognised as valid in such a decision, within the limits set by applicable laws and regulations governing the rights of persons having such claims;
the decision is not for the benefit of a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex I; and
recognition of the decision is not contrary to public policy in the Member State concerned.
Article 7
By way of derogation from Article 3(1) and provided that a payment by a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex I is due under a contract or agreement that was concluded by, or an obligation that arose for, the natural or legal person, entity or body concerned, before the date on which that natural or legal person, entity or body was included in Annex I, the competent authorities of the Member States may authorise, under such conditions as they deem appropriate, the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources, provided that the competent authority concerned has determined that:
the funds or economic resources will be used for a payment by a natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex I; and
the payment is not in breach of Article 3(2).
Article 8
Article 3(2) shall not apply to the addition to frozen accounts of:
interest or other earnings on those accounts;
payments due under contracts, agreements or obligations that were concluded or arose before the date on which the natural or legal person, entity or body referred to in Article 3 was included in Annex I; or
payments due under judicial, administrative or arbitral decisions rendered in a Member State or enforceable in the Member State concerned,
provided that any such interest, other earnings and payments remain subject to the measures provided for in Article 3(1).
Article 9
Without prejudice to the applicable rules concerning reporting, confidentiality and professional secrecy, natural and legal persons, entities and bodies shall:
supply immediately any information which would facilitate compliance with this Regulation, such as information on accounts and amounts frozen in accordance with Article 3(1), to the competent authority of the Member State where they are resident or located, and transmit such information, directly or through the Member State, to the Commission; and
cooperate with the competent authority in any verification of the information referred to in point (a).
Article 10
It shall be prohibited to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the measures referred to in Article 3.
Article 11
Article 12
No claims in connection with any contract or transaction the performance of which has been affected, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by the measures imposed under this Regulation, including claims for indemnity or any other claim of this type, such as a claim for compensation or a claim under a guarantee, in particular a claim for extension or payment of a bond or of a guarantee or indemnity, in particular a financial guarantee or financial indemnity, of whatever form, shall be satisfied, if they are made by:
natural or legal persons, entities or bodies listed in Annex I;
any natural or legal person, entity or body acting through or on behalf of one of the natural or legal persons, entities or bodies referred to in point (a).
Article 13
The Commission and Member States shall inform each other of the measures taken under this Regulation and share any other relevant information at their disposal in connection with this Regulation, in particular information in respect of:
funds frozen under Article 3 and authorisations granted under Articles 4, 5, 6 and 7;
violation and enforcement problems and judgments handed down by national courts.
Article 14
Article 15
Article 16
Article 17
The Council, the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (the ‘High Representative’) shall process personal data in order to carry out their tasks under this Regulation. These tasks include:
as regards the Council, preparing and making amendments to Annex I;
as regards the High Representative, preparing amendments to Annex I;
as regards the Commission:
adding the contents of Annex I to the electronic, consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to Union financial sanctions and to the interactive sanctions map, both publicly available;
processing information on the impact of the measures provided for in this Regulation such as the value of frozen funds and information on authorisations granted by the competent authorities.
Article 18
Article 19
This Regulation shall apply:
within the territory of the Union, including its airspace;
on board any aircraft or vessel under the jurisdiction of a Member State;
to any natural person inside or outside the territory of the Union who is a national of a Member State;
to any legal person, entity or body, inside or outside the territory of the Union, which is incorporated or constituted under the law of a Member State;
to any legal person, entity or body in respect of any business done in whole or in part within the Union.
Article 20
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
ANNEX I
List of natural or legal persons, entities or bodies referred to in Article 3
Natural persons
|
Names (Transliteration of Russian spelling) |
Names (Russian spelling) |
Identifying information |
Reasons for listing |
Date of listing |
1. |
Alexander (Alexandr) Petrovich KALASHNIKOV |
Aлександр Петрович КАЛАШНИКОВ |
Position(s): Director of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) DOB: 27.1.1964 POB: Tatarsk, Novosibirsk Region/Oblast, Russian SFSR (now Russian Federation) Nationality: Russian Gender: male |
Alexander Kalashnikov has been the director of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) since 8 October 2019. In that position, he oversees all activities of the FSIN. In his capacity as director of the FSIN, he is responsible for serious human rights violations in Russia, including arbitrary arrests and detentions. In the case of Alexei Navalny, while Mr Navalny was recovering in Germany (September 2020-January 2021) after having been poisoned with a toxic nerve agent of the Novichok group, on 28 December 2020 FSIN demanded that he immediately present himself to a probation officer or face a prison sentence for violating a suspended sentence for fraud conviction. That fraud conviction had been found arbitrary and unfair by the European Court of Human Rights in 2018. On 17 January 2021, acting on the orders of Alexander Kalashnikov, FSIN officers detained Alexei Navalny upon his arrival at Moscow airport. Alexei Navalny’s arrest is based on a decision by the Khimki city court, which in turn was issued at the request of FSIN. In late December 2020, FSIN had already requested that a court replace Alexei Nalvany’s suspended sentence with a prison term. On 17 February 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Government of Russia to release Alexei Navalny. |
2 March 2021 |
2. |
Alexander (Alexandr) Ivanovich BASTRYKIN |
Алексaндр Ивaнович БАСТРЫКИН |
Position(s): Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation DOB: 27.8.1953 POB: Pskov, Russian SFSR (now Russian Federation) Nationality: Russian Gender: male |
Alexander Bastrykin has served as chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (the ‘Committee’) since January 2011 (and as acting chairman from October to December 2010). In that position, he oversees all activities of the Committee. Officially, the Committee is presided over by the Russian President. In Alexander Bastrykin’s capacity as chairman of the Committee, he is responsible for serious human rights violations in Russia, including arbitrary arrests and detentions. Alexander Bastrykin is responsible for the Committee’s widespread and systematic repressive campaigns against the Russian opposition, targeting and investigating their members. On 29 December 2020, the Committee launched an investigation into the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, charging him with large-scale fraud. Alexei Navalny and others published articles on Alexander Bastrykin’s ownership of Czech real estate firm LAW Bohemia in the 2000s. |
2 March 2021 |
3. |
Igor Viktorovich KRASNOV |
Игорь Викторович КРАСНОВ |
Position(s): Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation DOB: 24.12.1975 POB: Arkhangelsk, Russian SFSR (now Russian Federation) Nationality: Russian Gender: male |
Igor Krasnov has been Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation since 22 January 2020, and is the former Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. In his position as Prosecutor General, he supervises the Prosecutor’s Offices in the Russian Federation, the Special Prosecutor’s Offices and the Military Prosecutor’s Office. In his capacity as Prosecutor General, he is responsible for serious human rights violations, including the arbitrary detentions of protesters, and for widespread and systematic repression of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and freedom of opinion and expression. Ahead of the 23 January 2021 protests, the Prosecutor General’s Office warned that participants would be held responsible. Moreover, the Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) restrict access to opposition websites and social network accounts that contained information on planned gatherings of Alexei Navalny’s supporters. On 29 January 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office once again demanded that Roskomnadzor restrict access to opposition websites and social network accounts, this time ahead of the pro-Navalny protests on 30 and 31 January 2021. Warnings were sent to internet companies (Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Google, Mail.ru Group). The Prosecutor General’s Office also announced that those taking part in the demonstrations would be prosecuted. The Prosecutor General’s Office supported the request by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to convert the suspended sentence imposed on Alexei Navalny in a case of alleged fraud to a prison sentence. Despite the fact that his conviction in that case had been found arbitrary and unfair by the European Court of Human Rights in 2018, Alexei Navalny was arrested upon his arrival at Moscow airport on 17 January 2021. |
2 March 2021 |
4. |
Viktor Vasilievich (Vasilyevich) ZOLOTOV |
Виктор Васильевич ЗОЛОТОВ |
Position(s): Director of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardia) DOB: 27.1.1954 POB: Sasovo, Russian SFSR (now Russian Federation) Nationality: Russian Gender: male |
Viktor Zolotov has been the Director of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardia) since 5 April 2016 and therefore Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation, as well as Commander of OMON – the Special Purpose Mobile Unit integrated in Rosgvardia. In that position, he oversees all activities of Rosgvardia and OMON troops. In his capacity as Director of Rosgvardia, he is responsible for serious human rights violations in Russia, including arbitrary arrests and detentions and systematic and widespread violations of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, in particular by violently repressing protests and demonstrations. Rosgvardia was employed to quell the 23 January 2021 pro-Navalny demonstrations and many OMON and National Guard officers were reported to have used brutality and violence against protesters. Dozens of journalists were targeted with aggression by the security forces, including Meduza’s correspondent Kristina Safronova, who was hit by an OMON officer, and Novaya Gazeta’s journalist Yelizaveta Kirpanova, who was hit on the head with a truncheon leaving her bleeding. Security forces arbitrarily detained more than 300 minors. |
2 March 2021 |
Legal persons, entities and bodies
ANNEX II
Websites for information on the competent authorities and address for notifications to the Commission
BELGIUM
https://diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/Beleid/beleidsthemas/vrede_en_veiligheid/sancties
https://diplomatie.belgium.be/fr/politique/themes_politiques/paix_et_securite/sanctions
https://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/policy_areas/peace_and_security/sanctions
BULGARIA
https://www.mfa.bg/en/101
CZECH REPUBLIC
www.financnianalytickyurad.cz/mezinarodni-sankce.html
DENMARK
http://um.dk/da/Udenrigspolitik/folkeretten/sanktioner/
GERMANY
http://www.bmwi.de/DE/Themen/Aussenwirtschaft/aussenwirtschaftsrecht,did=404888.html
ESTONIA
http://www.vm.ee/est/kat_622/
IRELAND
http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=28519
GREECE
http://www.mfa.gr/en/foreign-policy/global-issues/international-sanctions.html
SPAIN
http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/en/PoliticaExteriorCooperacion/GlobalizacionOportunidadesRiesgos/Paginas/SancionesInternacionales.aspx
FRANCE
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/autorites-sanctions/
CROATIA
http://www.mvep.hr/sankcije
ITALY
https://www.esteri.it/mae/it/politica_estera/politica_europea/misure_deroghe
CYPRUS
http://www.mfa.gov.cy/mfa/mfa2016.nsf/mfa35_en/mfa35_en?OpenDocument
LATVIA
http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/security/4539
LITHUANIA
http://www.urm.lt/sanctions
LUXEMBOURG
https://maee.gouvernement.lu/fr/directions-du-ministere/affaires-europeennes/mesures-restrictives.html
HUNGARY
https://kormany.hu/kulgazdasagi-es-kulugyminiszterium/ensz-eu-szankcios-tajekoztato
MALTA
https://foreignandeu.gov.mt/en/Government/SMB/Pages/SMB-Home.aspx
NETHERLANDS
https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/internationale-sancties
AUSTRIA
http://www.bmeia.gv.at/view.php3?f_id=12750&LNG=en&version=
POLAND
https://www.gov.pl/web/dyplomacja
PORTUGAL
http://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/ministerios/mne/quero-saber-mais/sobre-o-ministerio/medidas-restritivas/medidas-restritivas.aspx
ROMANIA
http://www.mae.ro/node/1548
SLOVENIA
http://www.mzz.gov.si/si/omejevalni_ukrepi
SLOVAKIA
https://www.mzv.sk/europske_zalezitosti/europske_politiky-sankcie_eu
FINLAND
http://formin.finland.fi/kvyhteistyo/pakotteet
SWEDEN
http://www.ud.se/sanktioner
Address for notifications to the European Commission:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)
Rue de Spa 2
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Email: relex-sanctions@ec.europa.eu