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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Financial Sanctions

Last updated: 19 October 2011

The Reserve Bank of Australia administers financial sanctions on behalf of the Australian Government. Information about the implementation of autonomous and UNSC sanctions in Australia is also available on DFAT’s website.

Autonomous Sanctions Regulations – Exposure Draft

The Australian Government has released the exposure draft of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations for public consultation. Under these new Regulations, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) will be responsible for administering autonomous sanctions, including financial sanctions. Until these Regulations come into force, the Reserve Bank of Australia will continue to be responsible for administering autonomous financial sanctions under the current regime governed by the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959. Submissions on the exposure draft have now closed.

Further information is available from the DFAT website.

United Nations Security Council Sanctions

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has responsibility for implementing legislation giving effect to sanctions-related decisions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including with respect to the freezing of terrorist assets.

Australian Autonomous Financial Sanctions

The Reserve Bank administers financial sanctions implemented via the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959. The sanctions are implemented by the Bank issuing directions under Regulation 5 and varying the existing exemptions to Sub-regulations 6(1) and 8(1)(a). The various legislative instruments used to implement the sanctions are published in the Australian Government Gazette (links provided below) and can also be found on the ComLaw website. The sanctions are aimed at prohibiting international funds transfers and other transactions using foreign currency involving sanctioned persons and entities listed in annexes to the legislative instruments, without the specific pre-approval of the Reserve Bank. Transactions involving persons or entities suspected of matching persons or entities on the sanctions lists should be referred to the Reserve Bank at sanctions@rba.gov.au.

Restrictions currently apply to certain financial transactions relating to the following:

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A consolidated list of all persons and entities subject to financial sanctions administered by the Reserve Bank of Australia is available in Excel format.

Burma – individuals associated with the Burmese regime

Transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of specified Burmese regime figures and supporters are prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

For further information, refer to:

Legislative instruments published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette:

No. GN 42, 22 October 2008, pages 2686–2702; and
No. GN 42, 24 October 2007, pages 2892–2945.

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Iran – certain Iranian entities and persons not already listed by the United Nations Security Council

Transactions involving the transfer of funds, or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of specified Iranian entities and persons are prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

For further information, refer to:

Legislative instruments published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette:

No. GN 33, 25 August 2010, pages 1917–1925; and
No. GN 28, 21 July 2010, pages 1578–1579; and
No. S 200, 15 October 2008, pages 1–6.

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Libya – certain key persons and entities associated with the Qadhafi regime

Transactions involving the transfer of funds, or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of certain key persons and entities associated with the Qadhafi regime are prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

For further information, refer to:

Legislative instruments published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette:

No. GN 41, 19 October 2011, pages 2507–2510; and
No. GN 30, 3 August 2011, pages 2004–2007; and
No. GN 24, 22 June 2011, pages 1587–1590; and
No. S 34, 9 March 2011, pages 1–3; and
No. S 35, 9 March 2011, pages 1–2; and
No. S 36, 9 March 2011, pages 1–2.

In addition, on 17 March 2011, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution that imposed an asset freeze on 7 persons who are currently listed as the target of Australian autonomous financial sanctions. The names of these individuals can be found in Annex II of Resolution 1973. The asset freeze is implemented under the Charter of the United Nations (Sanctions – Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) Regulations 2011 which are administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). All relevant enquiries should be directed to DFAT.

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North Korea – certain entities associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of certain entities associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

For further information, refer to:

Legislative instruments published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette:

No. S 176, 19 September 2006, pages 1–6.

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Syria – certain key persons and entities responsible for, or involved in, human rights abuses in Syria

Transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of certain persons and entities responsible for, or involved in, human rights abuses in Syria are prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

For further information, refer to:

Legislative instruments published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette:

No. GN 41, 19 October 2011, pages 2511–2515; and
No. GN 30, 3 August 2011, pages 2008–2011; and
No. GN 24, 22 June 2011, pages 1591–1599

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Former Yugoslavia – supporters of the former government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of specified supporters of the former Milosevic regime are prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

For further information, refer to:

Legislative instruments published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette:

No. S 101, 10 June 2009, pages 1–8; and
No. GN 27, 9 July 2008, page 1970; and
No. GN 40, 10 October 2007, pages 2741–2748; and
No. GN 20, 22 May 2002, pages 1488–1491; and
No. GN 42, 24 October 2001, pages 3292–3296.

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Zimbabwe – ministers and senior officials of the Government of Zimbabwe

Transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of specified ministers and senior officials of the Government of Zimbabwe, as well as others associated with the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe, are prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

For further information, refer to:

Legislative instruments published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette:

No. GN 30, 3 August 2011, pages 2012–2020; and
No. S 288, 24 December 2008, pages 1–12; and
No. GN 24, 20 June 2007, pages 1639–1647; and
No. GN 13, 5 April 2006, pages 811–818; and
No. GN 47, 30 November 2005, pages 2947–2952; and
No. GN 49, 11 December 2002, pages 3407–3418.

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Notification Service

To be notified by e-mail of changes to the autonomous financial sanctions administered by the Reserve Bank of Australia or to report transactions that potentially involve sanctioned persons and entities, please contact sanctions@rba.gov.au.