Council Regulation (EU) 2023/331 of 14 February 2023 amending certain Council regulations concerning restrictive measures in order to insert provisions on a humanitarian exemption

A new Council Regulation (EU) 2023/331 as regards the insertion of provisions to permit the release of frozen funds and other (financial) activities for specified purposes was published in the Official Journal (OJ) of the EU. Specifically, the 2023 regulation modifies several other Council regulations (please see the list above) specifying asset freezing and other restrictive measures to permit the release of frozen funds to and „the provision of technical assistance, financing or financial assistance“ by the following entities for humanitarian purposes:
– the United Nations (UN) or any of its related organizations and
– nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or international organizations supporting the work of the UN.
A corresponding list of organizations is provided in the provisions.
The regulation follows the recent adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2664 which stipulates possible exemptions from sanction measures for certain humanitarian activities and business purposes.