# EUR-Lex - 52011PC0362 - EN

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# 52011PC0362

**Joint Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures against President Lukashenko and certain officials of Belarus /* COM/2011/0362 final - NLE 2011/0158 */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 provides
for a freezing of the assets of President Lukashenko and certain officials of
Belarus.

By Council Decision 2011/.../CFSP of ...
June 2011[1] amending Council Decision
2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against certain officials of
Belarus, the Council has decided to take certain additional restrictive
measures in relation to Belarus, in particular an arms embargo and a
prohibition on internal repression equipment.

Some elements of these measures fall
within the scope of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and
regulatory action at the level of the Union is therefore necessary in order to
implement them, in particular with a view to ensuring their uniform application
by economic operators in all Member States.

The High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission propose to
amend Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 accordingly.

2011/0158 (NLE)

Joint Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

amending Council Regulation (EC) No
765/2006 concerning restrictive measures against President Lukashenko and
certain officials of Belarus

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 215 thereof,

Having regard to Council Decision
2011/.../CFSP of ... June 2011[2] amending Council Decision
2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against certain officials of
Belarus

Having regard to the joint proposal of the
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and
the European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)
Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 of 18 May
2006[3]
provides for a freezing of the assets of President Lukashenko and certain
officials of Belarus.

(2)
By Decision 2011/.../CFSP of ... June 2011, the
Council has decided to take certain additional restrictive measures in relation
to Belarus, in particular by imposing an arms embargo and a prohibition on
internal repression equipment.

(3)
Some elements of these measures fall within the
scope of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and regulatory
action at the level of the Union is therefore necessary in order to implement
them, in particular with a view to ensuring their uniform application by economic
operators in all Member States.

(4)
Regulation (EU) No 765/2006 should therefore be
amended accordingly.

(5)
In order to ensure that the measures in this
Regulation are effective, this Regulation should enter into force immediately.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 is amended as
follows:

(1)          The title of the Regulation is to
be replaced by the following:

“Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning
restrictive measures in respect of Belarus”

(2)          Article 1 is amended as follows:

(a)          Point (5) is replaced by the
following:

(5)     “territory of the Community” means the
territories of the Member States, including their airspace, to which the Treaty
is applicable, under the conditions laid down in the Treaty.”

(b)          The following point (6) is added:

(6)     'technical assistance' means any
technical support related to repairs, development, manufacture, assembly,
testing, maintenance, or any other technical service, and may take forms such
as instruction, advice, training, transmission of working knowledge or skills
or consulting services; including verbal forms of assistance;

(3)        The following Articles are inserted:

“Article 1a

It shall be prohibited:

(a)     to sell,
supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly, equipment which might be
used for internal repression as listed in Annex III, whether or not originating
in the Union, to any person, entity or body in Belarus or to any other
person, entity or body for use in Belarus;

(b)     to participate, knowingly and
intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the
prohibitions referred to in point (a).

“Article 1b

1.      It shall be prohibited:

(a)     to provide, directly or indirectly,
technical assistance related to the goods and technology listed in the Common
Military List of the European Union (‘Common Military List’)[4],
or related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance and use of goods included
in that list, to any person, entity or body in Belarus or for use in Belarus;

(b)     to provide, directly or indirectly,
technical assistance or brokering services related to equipment
which might be used for internal repression as listed in Annex III, to any person, entity or body in Belarus or for use in Belarus;

(c)     to provide, directly or indirectly,
financing or financial assistance related to the goods and technology listed in
the Common Military List or in Annex III, including in particular grants,
loans and export credit insurance, for any sale, supply, transfer or export of
such items, or for any provision of related technical assistance to any person,
entity or body in Belarus or for use in Belarus;

(d)     to participate, knowingly and
intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the
prohibitions referred to in points (a) to (c).

2.      By way of derogation from paragraph 1,
the prohibitions referred to therein shall not apply to the provision of
technical assistance, financing and financial assistance related to

(a)
non-lethal military equipment, or equipment
which might be used for internal repression, intended solely for humanitarian
purposes or protective use or for institution building programmes of the United
Nations (“UN”) and the Union, or for Union or UN crisis management operations;
or

(b)
non-combat vehicles fitted with materials to
provide ballistic protection, intended solely for the protective use of
personnel of the Union and its Member States in Belarus;

provided that such provision shall first have
been approved by the competent authority of a Member State, as identified on
the websites listed in Annex II.

3.      Paragraph 1 shall not apply to
protective clothing, including flak jackets and military helmets, temporarily
exported to Belarus by UN personnel, personnel of the Union or its Member
States, representatives of the media or humanitarian and development workers
and associated persons exclusively for their personal use.”

Article 2

The contents of the Annex to this
Regulation shall be inserted as Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 765/2006.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day 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.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

ANNEX

“ANNEX
III

List of equipment which might be
used for internal repression as referred to in Article 1a and Article 1b

1.           Fire-arms, ammunition and related
accessories therefor, as follows:

1.1    Firearms not controlled by ML 1 and ML
2 of the Common Military List of the European Union ('Common Military List')[5];

1.2    Ammunition specially designed for the
firearms listed in item 1.1 and specially designed components therefor;

1.3    Weapon-sights not controlled by the
Common Military List.

2.           Bombs and grenades not controlled
by the Common Military List.

3.           Vehicles as follows:

3.1    Vehicles equipped with a water cannon,
specially designed or modified for the purpose of riot control;

3.2    Vehicles specially designed or modified
to be electrified to repel borders;

3.3    Vehicles specially designed or modified
to remove barricades, including construction equipment with ballistic
protection;

3.4    Vehicles specially designed for the
transport or transfer of prisoners and/or detainees;

3.5    Vehicles specially designed to deploy
mobile barriers;

3.6    Components for the vehicles specified
in items 3.1 to 3.5 specially designed for the purposes of riot control.

Note 1  This item does not control vehicles
specially designed for the purposes of fire-fighting.

Note 2  For the purposes of item 3.5 the
term "vehicles" includes trailers.

4.           Explosive substances and related
equipment as follows:

4.1    Equipment and devices specially
designed to initiate explosions by electrical or non-electrical means,
including firing sets, detonators, igniters, boosters and detonating cord, and
specially designed components therefor; except those specially designed for a
specific commercial use consisting of the actuation or operation by explosive
means of other equipment or devices the function of which is not the creation
of explosions (e.g., car air-bag inflaters, electric-surge arresters of fire
sprinkler actuators);

4.2    Linear cutting explosive charges not
controlled by the Common Military List;

4.3    Other explosives not controlled by the
Common Military List and related substances as follows:

a.       amatol;

b.       nitrocellulose (containing more than
12,5 % nitrogen);

c.       nitroglycol;

d.       pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN);

e.       picryl chloride;

f.        2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT).

5.           Protective equipment not
controlled by ML 13 of the Common Military List as follows:

5.1    Body armour providing ballistic and/or
stabbing protection;

5.2    Helmets providing ballistic and/or
fragmentation protection, anti-riot helmets, antiriot shields and ballistic
shields.

Note: This item does not control:

-        equipment specially designed for
sports activities;

-        equipment specially designed for
safety of work requirements.

6.           Simulators, other than those
controlled by ML 14 of the Common Military List, for training in the use of
firearms, and specially designed software therefor.

7.           Night vision, thermal imaging
equipment and image intensifier tubes, other than those controlled by the
Common Military List.

8.           Razor barbed wire.

9.           Military knives, combat knives
and bayonets with blade lengths in excess of 10 cm.

10.         Production equipment specially
designed for the items specified in this list.

11.         Specific technology for the
development, production or use of the items specified in this list.”

[1]               OJ L ... , ... June 2011, p. ... .

[2]               OJ L ... , ... June 2011, p. ... .

[3]               OJ L 134, 20 May 2006, p.1

[4]               OJ
C 69, 18.3.2010, p. 19.

[5]               OJ L 88, 29.3.2007, p. 58.