S.I. No. 447 of 2001

Financial Transfers (Taliban of Afghanistan) (Prohibition) Order, 2001

I, Charlie McCreevy, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 4 of the Financial Transfers Act, 1992 ( No. 27 of 1992 ), hereby order as follows:

1.       This Order may be cited as the Financial Transfers (Taliban of Afghanistan) (Prohibition) Order, 2001.

2.       (1)     In this Order -

“Central Bank” means Central Bank of Ireland;

“Council Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 467/2001 of 6 March 2001¹ , as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1354/2001 of 4 July 2001² and as amended from time to time pursuant to Article 10 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 467/2001 of 6 March 2001.

(2)     A word or expression which is used in this Order has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning that it has in the Council Regulation.

3.       This Order applies to financial transfers -

(a)      in respect of all funds and financial resources belonging to any natural or legal person, entity or body listed in Annex I to the Council Regulation and which have been frozen in accordance with the Council Regulation;

(b)      relating to the making available of funds, either directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of the persons, entities or bodies referred to in paragraph (a).

4.       Subject to this Order and the provisions of the Council Regulation, a person shall not make a financial transfer to which this Order applies between the State and another country.

5.       A person who makes a financial transfer to which this Order applies but who has received an exemption in respect of such transfer pursuant to Article 2(3) of the Council Regulation, shall retain for inspection by the Central Bank evidence of having complied with the conditions of that Article for a period of 12 months from the date on which the transfer was made.

6.       The Central Bank may, for the purposes of the supervision of financial transfers and for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this Order, give such directions or issue such instructions to a person as it sees fit.

7.       A person to whom a direction has been given or an instruction issued under Article 6 of this Order shall, unless the person has reasonable excuse, comply with such direction or instruction.

8.       A person shall not do anything to promote a financial transfer to which this Order applies where the making of such transfer is prohibited by this Order.

9.       A person shall not do anything to assist in the circumvention of the provisions of this Order.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Statutory Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

The Statutory Instrument is made on foot of powers conferred on the Minister for Finance by section 4 of the Financial Transfers Act 1992 .

The Order provides for financial sanctions against the Taliban of Afghanistan by prohibiting financial transfers relating to funds in respect of the persons and bodies specified in and funds frozen by Council Regulation (EC) No. 467/2001 of 6 March 2001.

¹ O.J. No. L67, 9.3.2001, p.1.

² O.J. No. L182, 5.7.2001, p.15.