Section Menu

Democratic Republic of Congo - EU Arms Embargo, Integration of EU and UN Measures

NOTICE TO EXPORTERS - 10/05 - 26 July 2005

Details of the  EU Common Position adopted on 13 June 2005 which integrates various EU and UN measures on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The European Union adopted Council Common Position 2005/440/CFSP on 13 June on the DRC integrating the measures imposed by Common Position 2002/829/CFSP with those contained in UN Security Council Resolution 1596 (2005).  The full range of measures are:

• The delivery or supply of arms and related materiel, to the DRC, from Member States’ territory, by their nationals, or using their flagged vessels and aircraft;
• The provision of technical assistance, brokering services and other services related to military activities and to the provision, manufacture, maintenance and use of arms and related materiel to any person, entity or body in, or for use in, the DRC ;
• The provision of financing or financial assistance related to military activities including for arms and related materiel to any person, entity or body, in or for use in, the DRC.

Council Regulation (EC) 889/2005 was adopted on 13 June 2005.  This prohibited the grant, sale, supply or transfer of technical assistance related to military activities to any person, entity or body, in or for use in, the DRC.  It also banned the provision of financing or provision of financial assistance related to military activities directly or indirectly to any person, entity or body, in or for use in, the DRC.

The Export Control (Democratic Republic of Congo) Order 2005 (SI 2005/1677), which came into force on 27 June 2005, provides licensing and enforcement powers for the Council Regulation. The Democratic Republic of Congo (Financing and Financial Assistance, and Technical Advice, Assistance and Training) (Penalties and Licences) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/221) have been revoked.

The measures set out in the Common Position and Regulation do not apply to:

• Arms and related materiel, technical assistance and services for support of or use by units of the DRC army and police provided that they have completed the process of their integration, operate under the command, respectively of the ‘etat-major integer’ of the Armed Forces or of the National Police of the DRC or are in the process of their integration, in the territory of the DRC outside the provinces of North and South Kivu and the Ituri district;
• Arms and related materiel, technical assistance and services intended solely for support of or use by the United Nations Organisation Mission in the DRC (MONUC)
• Non-lethal military equipment and assistance and training related to such equipment intended solely for humanitarian or protective use provided that such supply or provision has been notified in advance to the UN Sanctions Committee.

The DRC is a destination covered by the provisions of the Trade in Controlled Goods (Embargoed Destinations) Order 2004 (SI 2004/318). This introduced extra-territorial controls on trade (trafficking and brokering) in arms and related materiel from a country outside the UK to specified embargoed destinations. More information on these controls is available in Notice 06/04.

The other measures against the DRC contained in the Common Position are:

• A travel ban (with certain defined exemptions) preventing those who act in violation of the arms embargo, as designated by the UN Sanctions Committee, from entering the EU;
• An assets freeze (with certain defined exemptions) against the same individuals and a prohibition on making funds, other financial assets and economic resources available to those individuals.  The assets freeze provision  is administered by the Financial Sanctions Unit of the Bank of England.

For further details of strategic export controls please contact the ECO.

This notice is for information purposes only and has no force in law.  Please note that where legal advice is required exporters should make their own arrangements.

Export Control Organisation

26 July 2005
XNP Notice  10/05