The Libyan sanctions regime - Update

On 27 February 2011 the Libya (Financial Sanctions) Order 2011 came into force in the UK, and was subsequently supplemented by the Libya (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011. Our previous bulletin describes the effect of this legislation in detail.

Today, the European Union and UK have added further persons and entities to their respective regimes. This follows agreement at EU level, which was reported to have been reached on Wednesday. The 'designated persons' under the sanctions regimes now include (in addition to the originally designated individuals):

• The Central Bank of Libya;
• Libya Africa Investment Portfolio;
• Libyan Foreign Bank;
• Libyan Housing and Infrastructure Board; and
• The Libyan Investment Authority.

This removes the previous uncertainty as to whether the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Investment Authority (in particular) should be regarded as sanctioned. In that respect the development is welcome. HM Treasury continues to expressly warn that it understands that Qadhafi and his family exercise considerable control over the Libyan state and its enterprises, and to advise that the financial sector should bear this in mind when deciding how to deal with transactions involving any Libyan state owned entities.

For advice on issues arising in relation to the sanctions regime against Libya, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team.
Please refer to the links below for the current list of Libyan asset freeze targets in the UK (last updated 11 March 2011): http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/libya.htm; and to the HM Treasury page on the Libyan sanctions regime: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_libya.htm