Council Common Position 2003/495/CFSP of 7 July 2003 on Iraq and repealing Common Positions 96/741/CFSP and 2002/599/CFSP
Date: 2003-07-07
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Iraq, UN Security Council, arms trade, cultural object, economic sanctions, international sanctions, petroleum, petroleum product, seizure of goods

L 169/72

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

8.7.2003

(Acts adopted pursuant to Title V of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL COMMON POSITION 2003/495/CFSP

of 7 July 2003

on Iraq and repealing Common Positions 96/741/CFSP and 2002/599/CFSP

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Article 2

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in
particular Article 15 thereof,

Whereas:

All funds or other financial assets or economic resources:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

On 22 May 2003, the United Nations Security Council
adopted Resolution 1483 (2003) repealing all prohibi-
tions related to trade with Iraq and the provision of
financial and economic resources to Iraq established by
Security Council Resolution 661 (1990) and subsequent
relevant resolutions including Resolution 778 (1992),
with the exception of prohibitions related to the sale or
supply to Iraq of arms and related material other than
those arms and related material required by the United
States of America and the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland as occupying powers under
unified command (hereinafter called ‘the Authority’), and
imposing new measures.

The Council welcomes the decision of
Council to lift sanctions against Iraq.

the Security

The Council welcomes the commitment of the Security
Council and of
in Resolution 1483
(2003), to help reconstruct Iraq and to aid the Iraqi
people in moving towards the establishment of an inter-
nationally recognised, representative Government.

the Authority,

Council Common Positions 96/741/CFSP (1) and 2002/
599/CFSP (2) should therefore be repealed.

Action by the Community is needed in order to imple-
ment certain measures,

HAS ADOPTED THIS COMMON POSITION:

(a) of the previous Government of Iraq or its State bodies,
corporations, or agencies, located outside Iraq as of 22 May
2003 as designated by the Committee established pursuant
to Security Council Resolution 661 (1990), or

(b) that have been removed from Iraq, or acquired by Saddam
Hussein or other senior officials of the former Iraqi regime
and their immediate family members,
including entities
owned or controlled directly or indirectly by them or by
persons acting on their behalf or at their direction, as desig-
nated by the Committee established pursuant to Security
Council Resolution 661 (1990),

shall be frozen without delay and, unless these funds or other
financial assets or economic resources are themselves the
subject of a prior judicial, administrative or arbitral
lien or
their
judgement, Member States
transfer to the Development Fund for Iraq under the conditions
set out in Security Council Resolution 1483 (2003).

immediately cause

shall

Article 1

Article 3

The sale or supply to Iraq of arms and related material, other
than those arms and related material required by the Authority
to serve the purposes of Security Council Resolution 1483
(2003) and other related Security Council Resolutions, remains
prohibited.

(1) Common Position 96/741/CFSP of 17 December 1996 defined by
the Council on the basis of Article J.2 of the Treaty on European
Union concerning the derogations from the embargo with regard to
Iraq (OJ L 337, 27.12.1996, p. 5).

(2) Common Position 2002/599/CFSP of 22 July 2002 supplementing
Common Position 96/741/CFSP concerning the derogations from
the embargo with regard to Iraq (OJ L 194, 23.7.2002, p. 47).

All appropriate steps will be taken to facilitate the safe return
to Iraqi institutions of Iraqi cultural property and other items
of archaeological, historical, cultural, rare scientific, and reli-
gious importance illegally removed from the Iraq National
Museum, the National Library, and other locations in Iraq since
the adoption of Security Council Resolution 661 (1990),
including by establishing a prohibition on trade in or transfer
of such items and items with respect to which reasonable suspi-
cion exists that they have been illegally removed.

8.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 169/73

Article 4

All proceeds from all export sales of petroleum, petroleum
products, and natural gas from Iraq as of 22 May 2003 shall be
deposited into the Development Fund for Iraq under the condi-
tions set out in Resolution 1483 (2003), until such time as an
internationally recognised, representative government of Iraq is
properly constituted.

to satisfy liability for damages assessed in connection with an
ecological accident, including an oil spill, that occurs after 22
May 2003.

Article 6

Council Common Positions 96/741/CFSP and 2002/599/CFSP
are hereby repealed.

Article 5

Article 7

1.
Petroleum, petroleum products, and natural gas origi-
nating in Iraq will be immune, until title passes to the initial
purchaser,
from legal proceedings against them and not be
subject to any form of attachment, garnishment, or execution.

Privileges and immunities equivalent to those enjoyed by

2.
the United Nations will be enjoyed by:

(a) proceeds and obligations arising from the sale of products

referred to in paragraph 1;

(b) the Development Fund for Iraq;

(c) funds, other financial assets or economic resources to be
transferred to the Development Fund for Iraq in accordance
with Article 2.

3.
The privileges and immunities referred to in paragraph
2(a) will not apply with respect to any legal proceeding in
which recourse to such proceeds and obligations is necessary

This Common Position shall take effect on the date of its adop-
tion. It shall apply from 22 May 2003.

Article 4 shall apply until 31 December 2007 unless the
Council decides otherwise in accordance with any future rele-
vant UN Security Council Resolution.

Article 8

This Common Position shall be published in the Official Journal
of the European Union.

Done at Brussels, 7 July 2003.

For the Council

The President

F. FRATTINI