Media Release Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959
Sanctions against Iran – Amendment to the Annex

Number 2010-18
Date

The Reserve Bank of Australia, following a directive from the Australian Government under the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959, administers financial sanctions against Iranian entities and persons who contribute to Iran's proliferation activities but are not already listed by the United Nations Security Council.

On 29 July 2010, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade announced that the Australian Government would impose further autonomous sanctions against Iran to reinforce UN Security Council Resolution 1929 of 9 June 2010.

The Australian Government has directed the Reserve Bank to add nine persons and 80 entities to the Annex of names subject to financial sanctions under the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959. Attachment A provides details of these amendments. The updated Annex now contains 21 persons and 91 entities.

Any transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of any person or entity listed in the Annex are prohibited without prior approval from the Reserve Bank.

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 As a result, the content of this media release is no longer current and any accompanying annexes and/or attachments have been removed.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.

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