Media Release Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations
Sanctions Against Iraq

On 9 August 1990, the Reserve Bank of Australia took steps under the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations to give effect to the resolution of the United Nations Security Council imposing wide-ranging sanctions against Iraq. Specifically, from that date, the buying or selling of foreign currency and a range of other financial transactions with the Governments of Iraq or Kuwait, their agencies or their nationals were prohibited unless specific approval was given by the Bank.

The Bank has today repealed the measures imposed on Kuwait on 9 August 1990. Financial dealings with the Government of Iraq, its agencies or nationals remain prohibited without the specific approval of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

UPDATE: On 7 March 2012, responsibility for the administration of Australia's autonomous financial sanctions was transferred from the RBA (under the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959) to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) (under the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011).
This change was announced in RBA Media Release No 2012-05. As a result, the content of this media release is no longer current and any accompanying annexes and/or attachments have been removed. For all enquiries about Australia's autonomous financial sanctions regime, including the current list of sanctioned individuals and entities, refer to the DFAT website.

Enquiries

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Reserve Bank of Australia
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Phone: +61 2 9551 9720
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E-mail: rbainfo@rba.gov.au