What is understood by personal restrictions?

Relevant persons

Certain individuals, groups or organisation are the targets of measures intended to contribute to the fight against terrorism. Frequently, such personal restrictions are part of country specific embargo measures, and they restrict commercial relations with individuals who are seen as responsible, or who clearly bear responsibility, which has lead to the imposition of the embargo.

The individuals, groups or organisations against which such restrictions have been imposed, are usually listed in an Annex to the relevant EU regulation.

The prohibition extends to all individuals, groups, or organisations involved in the process. It is, therefore, insufficient merely to check whether the sender is subject to the relevant restriction; any intermediaries, forwarding agents, and preceding senders must also be identified and checked.

Personal restrictions

All monetary funds and economic resources belonging to, or managed by, the relevant individuals, groups or organisations are frozen.

The consequence is that the relevant individuals, groups or organisations must neither directly or indirectly be provided with, or become the beneficiaries of, financial assets or economic resources. Any form of the movement, transfer, change or use of economic resources and/or the trade of such resources falls under the interdict.

The term economic resources means financial assets of any kind. These include not only material objects, but anything that can be sold, or transferred for a consideration; for example, documents that have value or entitle their holders to rights on goods or claims. This means that consignments that require a consideration - for example, a payment - also fall under the prohibition.

Exceptions

The restrictions do not cover goods which by their nature, value and/or quantity should be seen as goods for personal or private use. Such imports never require approval.

When the possibility of allowing specific exemptions is included in the scope of the prohibition, ban, or embargo, such exemptions relating to, for example food, rent, medical treatment or extraordinary expenses may, when appropriate, be approved by the competent authorities, if the conditions specified in the relevant EU legislation have been met, and such previously granted approval must be presented to the customs administration.