Media Release Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959
Sanctions Against Syria, Libya and Zimbabwe
– Amendments to the Annexes

Number 2011-17
Date

The Reserve Bank of Australia has been directed by the Australian Government to take steps under the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959 to amend the lists of persons and entities in or associated with Syria, Libya and Zimbabwe subject to Australian autonomous financial sanctions. A list of the amendments is contained in Attachment A.

The existing autonomous targeted financial sanctions against Syria have been expanded to cover an additional eight key persons responsible for, or involved in, human rights abuses. The updated Syria Annex now contains a total of 26 persons and 7 entities.

The existing autonomous targeted financial sanctions against Libya have been expanded to cover one additional key person associated with the Qadhafi regime. The updated Libya Annex now contains a total of 35 persons and 20 entities.

The existing autonomous targeted financial sanctions against Zimbabwe have been amended to remove from the list 17 persons who are either deceased, or deemed to be no longer working against democracy, abusing human rights or perverting the rule of law. The updated Zimbabwe Annex now contains a total of 237 persons and 4 entities.

Specific transactions involving the dealing of funds by the order of, on behalf of, or for the benefit of, any person or entity listed in the updated Syria Annex, Libya Annex or Zimbabwe Annex are prohibited.

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 As a result, the content of this media release is no longer current and any accompanying annexes and/or attachments have been removed.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