General licences - IOM/2023/SYR001 & IOM/2023/GTL002
The Treasury has the power to issue General Licences for financial and trade sanctions regimes under a number of Regulations.
On 22 February 2023, the Treasury issued General Licence IOM/2023/SYR001 and General Trade Licence GTL002 under regulation 61 and 62 of the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, as they apply to the Isle of Man by the Syria Sanctions (Application) Regulations 2020 [SD 2020/0503] (“the Syria Regulations”).
Sanctions do not target humanitarian aid, food, or medical supplies, but the current requirements for individual licencing are not always practical during a crisis response and these General Licences will further facilitate earthquake relief efforts in Syria. They will strengthen the timely and effective delivery of relief efforts by removing the need for individual licence applications and should provide extra clarity to actors on the ground responding to this devastating earthquake.
Any persons intending to use the General Licences should consult copies of the Licences for full details of the permissions and usage requirements which can be found attached to this release.
General Licence IOM/2023/SYR001 pertains to humanitarian activity in relation to earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey. The licence will expire on 15 August 2023.
For the purposes of General Licence IOM/2023/SYR001 -
- Designated Person is any individual or body of persons (corporate or unincorporate) designated under the Syria Regulations.
- Designated Financial Institution are –
Agricultural Cooperative Bank,
Central Bank of Syria,
Commercial Bank of Syria,
Industrial Bank,
Popular Credit Bank,
Real Estate Bank of Syria (REB),
Saving Bank, and
Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank.
- Relevant Person is –
United Nations, including its programmes, funds and other entities and bodies, as well as its specialised agencies and related organizations;
international organisations carrying out relief activities in Syria;
humanitarian organisations having observer status with the United Nations General Assembly and members of those humanitarian organisations;
bilaterally or multilaterally funded non-governmental organisations participating in the United Nations Humanitarian Response Plans, Refugee Response Plans, other United Nations appeals, or humanitarian clusters coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs;
and any employees, grantees, subsidiary, or implementing partners of any organisation falling within the above while and to the extent that they are acting in those capacities.
- Relevant Activity is activities necessary to facilitate humanitarian assistance in relation to earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey. This includes the provision, processing and payment of funds, or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance or to support such activities.
- Relevant Institution is -
a person who is licensed under the Financial Services Act 2008 (of Tynwald) to carry on a regulated activity within the meaning of section 3 of that Act;
a person who is authorised or registered under the Insurance Act 2008 (of Tynwald) or holds a permit under that Act;
a person who is registered under the Moneylenders Act 1991 (of Tynwald) to carry on the business of lending money;
a person who is acting as a trustee or an administrator of a retirement benefits scheme within the meaning of the Retirement Benefits Schemes Act 2000 (of Tynwald)
Permission
Under General Licence IOM/2023/SYR001, subject to the condition set out below, a Relevant Person may perform Relevant Activities provided that the Relevant Person believes that carrying out the Relevant Activity is so necessary to ensure the timely delivery of earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey and there is no reasonable cause for the Relevant Person to suspect otherwise.
Condition
a) Any funds used to effect the permission set out above must not be from funds or economic resources that are owned, held or controlled by a Designated Person.
b) The permission does not allow the use of economic resources owned, held or controlled by a Designated Person except where a Designated Person has received funds, goods or services in exchange for those economic resources from a Relevant Person to perform Relevant Activities.
c) Condition (a) does not apply to funds that are controlled by a Designated Financial Institution in the event that those funds are not owned, held or controlled by any other Designated Person or where the transfer of funds is otherwise licensed.
General Trade Licence IOM/2023/GTL002 will extend the protection offered by the current humanitarian exception to petroleum prohibitions for Isle of Man-funded persons to all those conducting earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey. This covers persons delivering the specified activities and their service providers. The licence will expire on 31 August 2023.
For the purposes of General Licence IOM/2023/GTL002 –
- Provider means any legal or natural person including financial institutions or other financial services providers located in or operating from within the Isle of Man or which is an Island person operating anywhere in the world engaging in any activity authorised by the licence.
- Island person means –
a British citizen, a British overseas territories citizen, a British National (Overseas) or a British overseas citizen who is resident in the Isle of Man;
a person who under the British Nationality Act 1981 (of Parliament) is a British subject who is resident in the Isle of Man;
a British protected person within the meaning of that Act who is resident in the Isle of Man; or
a body incorporated under the law of the Isle of Man
Under General Licence IOM/2023/GTL002 subject to the conditions set out in the licence, authorises direct or indirect acquisition, supply or delivery of petroleum products which originate, located in or are from a person connected with Syria if the activity is exclusively for the purposes of facilitating humanitarian assistance in relation to earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey.
Notification Requirements
General Trade Licence IOM/2023/GTL002 includes a notification and record keeping requirement that within 30 calendar days of the first use of this licence, the provider must provide details to the Treasury, of the name and address at which records are kept in relation to this licence. Records must be kept for a period of 4 years.
General
The permissions in the General Licences do not authorise any act which the person carrying out the act knows, or has reasonable grounds for suspecting, will result in funds or economic resources being made available in breach of the Syria Regulations, save as permitted under licences granted under the Syria Regulations.
Further details of the sanctions regime related to Syria may be found on the Customs and Excise pages of the Isle of Man Government website.
