Sanctions – North Korea
The UN Security Council recently agreed to adopt enhanced measures against North Korea in light of its continuing weapons development programmes. These measures represent a comprehensive set of sanctions which have been given effect by both the EU and the US, with the US going further by implementing what would appear to amount to a trade embargo between itself and North Korea.
Holman Fenwick Willan have produced two helpful briefing notes on these sanctions, one in April 2016 describing the broad provisions and a second in May 2016 concentrating on the scope of the EU sanctions. We are grateful to HFW for their permission to reproduce those briefings.
The relevant UN Resolution and EU and US legal instruments can be found here:
UN Security Council Resolution 2270 (2016)
EU Council Regulation 2016/682
Some aspects of these sanctions which might be of particular interest to the maritime community include:
- Ban on the purchase or transportation from North Korea of gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore, rare earth minerals, coal, iron and iron ore
- Ban on the sale and supply of aviation and rocket fuels
- Expansion of the list of banned luxury goods which cannot be supplied to North Korea
- Ban on all leasing and chartering of vessels and the provision of crew services
- Ban on owning and operating of or providing classification or similar services to North Korean-flagged vessels
- Expanded arms embargo
- Potential for vessels proceeding to or from North Korea to be searched
- Expansion of persons and entities on SDNs lists, including banks and shipping companies
Members considering any business involving voyages to North Korean or North Korean persons are strongly advised to read these materials and to contact the Managers for further advice before fixing.