The Burma (Restrictive Measures)(Overseas Territories)(Suspension) Order 2012 - Advisory Warning No. 31 of 2012 (2012-12-31)

Summary

This is an informational advisory from the BVI Financial Services Commission notifying the public that a UK sanctions order affecting Burma (Myanmar) has been extended to the Territory. It explains that most restrictive measures against Burma, originally imposed via EU sanctions and given effect in the Overseas Territories by a 2009 Order, have been suspended following positive political developments, while certain measures remain in force.

• Suspended: Most sanctions measures against Burma are suspended, including the prohibition on supply of equipment usable for internal repression or in logging, timber processing or mining, the ban on imports of timber products, coal, certain metals and precious/semi-precious stones, and financial sanctions against certain Burmese persons/entities.
• Still in force: The arms embargo and the prohibition on provision of technical assistance related to arms or repression equipment remain in effect and are not suspended.
• Legal basis: The suspension is given effect by The Burma (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) (Suspension) Order 2012 [U.K.S.I. 2012 No. 2596], extending EU Council Decision 2012/225/CFSP (26 April 2012) to the Territory under the principal 2009 Order [U.K.S.I. 2009 No. 3008].
• Review pending: The EU Council will decide before 30 April 2013 whether to extend the suspension of the measures.

The advisory is purely informational, providing notice of the legal change and links to the relevant UK and EU instruments; it does not itself impose new filing or reporting requirements on regulated entities beyond the general obligation to continue complying with applicable sanctions regimes, including the retained arms embargo.

Key obligations

• Persons and entities remain obliged to comply with the arms embargo and the prohibition on provision of technical assistance relating to arms or internal-repression equipment concerning Burma, which is not suspended by this Order.

Deadlines

• before 30 April 2013: The Council of the European Union will decide whether to extend the suspension of the Burma restrictive measures.