The Financial Sanctions Unit of the
Bank of England formerly administered financial sanctions in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on behalf of
HM Treasury
His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...
. It was in operation since before 1993, when it applied sanctions against the Government of
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
. More recently, since Libya became an ally of the United Kingdom, sanctions have been applied against those who allegedly fought against the Government of Libya at the time it was not an ally (see
Incidents which have involved the Financial Sanctions Unit). Responsibility for the administration of Financial Sanctions in the UK transferred from the Bank of England to HM Treasury on 24 October 2007. In April 2016 HM Treasury set up the
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, a new body whose mission is to "provide a high-quality service to the private sector, working closely with law enforcement to help ensure that financial sanctions are properly understood, implemented and enforced."
Regimes
Financial sanctions have established under a multitude of regimes, from
UN Security Council Committee Established Pursuant to Resolution 1267 (1999) Concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities, to EC Commission Regulations, to UK Government orders enforcing trade restrictions against activities in particular countries. Often these authorities overlap so that the same candidates for sanctions are listed from different sources.
Aside from the Al-Qaida and the Taliban regimes, there are sanctions regimes against persons associated with
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
,
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
, the former
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
,
Syria,
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...
,
Sudan and
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
. Previous regimes, which have been lifted, involved
Angola
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,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
and
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
.
Many of these measures targeting terrorist organizations have been subsumed into the general provisions of an order which came into force on 12 October 2006, the day after it was laid before Parliament.
The new order allows for
HM Treasury
His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...
to target anyone they suspect may be attempting to participate in the commissions of acts of terrorism, and anyone who works on their behalf. This includes by default all those identified by the
Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
committee.
The main instrument for administering the financial sanctions is the publication of
''Consolidated list of financial sanctions targets''which can be used by banks and other financial institutions to scan their customer databases and discover financial assets controlled by those who are the targets of the sanctions.
Similar measures
The
Charity Commission
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also has powers to freeze the bank accounts of organizations that are registered charities that it suspects are connected with terrorism.
Politics
Financial sanctions regimes are usually passed as
secondary legislation
Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative dem ...
on the basis of an earlier
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation
Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislat ...
. There are statements made about the process in Parliament, but no sign of an official debate. The power to impose sanctions against suspects designated by the United Nations Security Council is derived from the
United Nations Act 1946, and so is not thought to require further approval.
The
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
, takes an interest in financial sanctions policy against terrorism, and has made it the subject of major speeches. On 12 October 2006, he announced the broadening of the law to allow for financial sanctions to apply without the need of a UN or EU mandate, and solely on the basis of secret intelligence.
He called his department's handling of the 19 suspects involved in the
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot "the most expeditious and most comprehensive asset freeze the Treasury has undertaken", and claims that "since September 11th almost 200 accounts have been frozen linked to over 100 organisations with suspected connections to Al Qaeda."
These were handled as part of the previous regime, by designating those individuals as being connected with Al-Qaeda, without any evidence presented to the public beyond a press release.
Legal challenges
Several of the targeted people have brought their case before the
Court of First Instance
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accor ...
on the basis that the measures infringe fundamental principles of Community law (such as
European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
which ensures the right of fair trial, and no punishment without law). On 12 July 2006, Faraj Hassan and Chafik Ayadi, both UK residents who had been listed under the regime since 2002, had their cases dismissed with the statement that:
...the Court... recognise that freezing of funds constitutes a particularly drastic measure, but adds that that measure does not prevent the individuals concerned from leading a satisfactory personal, family and social life, given the circumstances. In particular, they are not forbidden to carry on a trade or business activity, it being however understood that the receipt of income from that activity is regulated.
Since the order gives HM Treasury the right to grant licenses which create exemptions to any imposed regime.
Incidents which have involved the Financial Sanctions Unit
*
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known as ''Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya'' ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا), was an armed Islamist group. Militants participated in the 2011 Liby ...
- Sanctions applied on 7 February 2006 against five Libyans residing in the UK on the basis of incidents that occurred in the 1990s.
*
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot - All 19 suspects became targets of financial sanctions at the time of their arrest, thus revealing their identities.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer called it "the most expeditious and most comprehensive asset freeze the Treasury has undertaken."
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/financialsanctions/index.htm
Bank of England