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EU: 27 groups banned from financial tranactions

28 March 2012

On Tuesday 2 October the European Commission put forward a draft Regulation forbidding financial transactions for, or on behalf of, 27 listed organisations and groups. The proposal was sent to the European Parliament on 3 October and was adopted - with amendments - under a special procedure (Procedure without report, Rule 158) by the plenary session of the parliament in Strasbourg on 4 October.

Commission proposed Regulation: Full-text (html) Full-text (pdf)

The vote in the parliament was 417 votes in favour, 44 against and 18 abstentions approving a regulation which will enable EU Member States to block terrorist accounts and restrict financing of terrorism. However, the parliament did introduce a number of important amendments: that the measure should be temporary, as the legislation was drawn up in haste and needs to be improved (the Commission proposal gave no time limit) - MEPs want the regulation to expire at the end of 2003 and to be reviewed within a year.

In other amendments, Parliament stressed that as the regulation is based on article 308 of the Treaty, the Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction. Also, the annex listing 27 organisations whose assets are to be frozen should be amended and include other terrorist organisations. Parliament should be consulted, if necessary on a confidential basis, on future changes to the list of organisations whose accounts are to be blocked.

The General Affairs Council on Monday 8 October discussed but did not adopt the measure, now may be adopted at the ECOFIN Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday 16 October.

A majority of EU governments are still hoping that the UN Sanctions Committee will agree a measure on the freezing of terrorist assets thus making the European Commission's proposal redundant.

Under the proposal the Council can amend or add to the list of groups without reference to or consultation of the parliament (Article 2.2). The parliament's amendment that groups could perhaps be added and the parliament be consulted on a "Confidential" basis would appear to defeat the general purpose of the Regulation as it depends on the wider public having a knowledge of who is on the list. Under Article 6 a person with a "reasonable expectation" that a group may be connected with terrorism (which is not listed) is expected to get written confirmation from specified national authorities before undertaking any business transaction.

It is reported that some MEPs want to add other groups to the list. The danger is that if the list becomes a "shopping list" - of effectively proscribed groups - for EU governments and other "friendly" governments it could be extend to those considered as "liberation struggles", such as the ANC's struggle for liberation in South Africa, against undemocratic or authoritarian regimes rather than "terrorist" organisations. In the UK the breadth of the list of proscribed organisations has drawn much criticism, see: UK proscribed groups

EU - The list of groups or legal persons covered:

1. Al Qaida/Islamic Army
2. Abu Sayyaf Group
3. Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
4. Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
5. Al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
6. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
7. Asbat al-Ansar
8. Salafist group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
9. Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
10. Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI)
11. Islamic Army of Aden
12. Usama Bin laden
13. Muhammad Atif (a.k.a. Subhi Abu Sitta, Abu Hafs Al Masri)
14. Sayf al-Adl
15. Shaykh Sai'id (a.k.a. Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad)
16. Abu Hafs the Mauritanian (aka, Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, Khalid Al-Shanqiti)
17. Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi
18. Abu Zubaydah (a.k.a. Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Hussayn, Tariq)
19. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi (a.k.a. Abu Abdallah)
20. Ayman al-Zawahiri
21. Thirwat Salah Shihata
22. Tariq Anwar al-Sayyid Ahmad (a.k.a. Fathi, Amr al-Fatih)
23. Muhammad Salah (a.k.a. Nasr Fahmi Nasr Hasanayn)
24. Makhtab Al-Khidamat/Al Kifah
25. Wafa Humanitarian Organization
26. Al Rashid Trust
27. Mamoun Darkazanli Import-Export Company

US - List of groups

The Secretary of State hereby redesignates, effective October 5, 2001, the following organizations as foreign terrorist organizations:

Abu Nidal Organization
Also known as ANO
Also known as Black September
Also known as the Fatah Revolutionary Council
Also known as the Arab Revolutionary Council
Also known as the Arab Revolutionary Brigades
Also known as the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims

Abu Sayyaf Group
Also known as Al Harakat Al Islamiyya

Armed Islamic Group
Also known as GIA
Also known as Groupement Islamique Arme
Also known as Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah al-Musallah

Aum Shinrikyo
Also known as Aleph
Also known as Aum Supreme Truth
Also known as A.I.C. Sogo Kenkyusho
Also known as A.I.C. Comprehensive Research Institute

Basque Fatherland and Liberty
Also known as Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna
Also known as ETA

Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Also known as the Islamic Group
Also known as IG
Also known as al-Gama'at
Also known as Islamic Gama'at
Also known as Egyptian al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya
Also known as GI

Hamas
Also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement
Also known as Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya
Also known as Students of Ayyash
Also known as Students of the Engineer
Also known as Yahya Ayyash Units
Also known as Izz Al-Din Al-Qassim Brigades
Also known as Izz Al-Din Al-Qassim Forces
Also known as Izz Al-Din Al-Qassim Battalions
Also known as Izz al-Din Al Qassam Brigades
Also known as Izz al-Din Al Qassam Forces
Also known as Izz al-Din Al Qassam Battalions

Harakat ul-Mujahideen
Also known as HUM
Also known as Harakat ul-Ansar
Also known as HUA

Hizballah
Also known as the Party of God
Also known as Islamic Jihad
Also known as Islamic Jihad Organization
Also known as Revolutionary Justice Organization
Also known as Organization of the Oppressed on Earth
Also known as Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine
Also known as Organization of Right Against Wrong
Also known as Ansar Allah
Also known as Followers of the Prophet Muhammed

al-Jihad
Also known as Egyptian al-Jihad
Also known as New Jihad
Also known as Egyptian Islamic Jihad
Also known as Jihad Group

Kahane Chai
Also known as Kach
Also known as Kahane Lives
Also known as the Kfar Tapuah Fund
Also known as The Judean Voice
Also known as The Judean Legion
Also known as The Way of the Torah
Also known as The Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea
Also known as the Repression of Traitors
Also known as Dikuy Bogdim
Also known as DOV
Also known as the State of Judea
Also known as the Committee for the Safety of the Roads
Also known as the Sword of David
Also known as Judea Police
Also known as Forefront of the Idea
Also known as The Qomemiyut Movement
and
Also known as KOACH

Kurdistan Workers' Party
Also known as the PKK
Also known as Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan
Also known as the People's Defense Force
Also known as Halu Mesru Savunma Kuvveti (HSK)

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Also known as LTTE
Also known as Tamil Tigers
Also known as Ellalan Force

Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization
Also known as MEK
Also known as MKO
Also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq
Also known as People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran
Also known as PMOI
Also known as Organization of the People's Holy Warriors of Iran
Also known as Sazeman-e Mujahedin-e Khalq-e Iran
Also known as National Council of Resistance
Also known as NCR
Also known as National Council of Resistance of Iran
Also known as NCRI
Also known as the National Liberation Army of Iran
Also known as NLA

National Liberation Army
Also known as the ELN,
Also known as Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional

Palestine Islamic Jihad-Shaqaqi Faction
Also known as PIJ-Shaqaqi Faction
Also known as PIJ-Shallah Faction
Also known as Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Also known as PIJ
Also known as Islamic Jihad of Palestine
Also known as Islamic Jihad in Palestine
Also known as Abu Ghunaym Squad of the Hizballah Bayt Al-Maqdis
Also known as the Al-Quds Squads
Also known as the Al-Quds Brigades
Also known as Saraya Al-Quds
Also known as Al-Awdah Brigades

Palestine Liberation Front-Abu Abbas Faction
Also known as the Palestine Liberation Front
Also known as the PLF
Also known as PLF-Abu Abbas

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Also known as the PFLP
Also known as the Red Eagles
Also known as the Red Eagle Group
Also known as the Red Eagle Gang
Also known as the Halhul Gang
Also known as the Halhul Squad
Also known as Palestinian Popular Resistance Forces
Also known as PPRF

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command
Also known as PFLP-GC

al Qa'ida
Also known as al Qaeda
Also known as ``the Base''
Also known as the Islamic Army
Also known as the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and
Crusaders
Also known as the Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Places
Also known as the Usama Bin Laden Network
Also known as the Usama Bin Laden Organization
Also known as Islamic Salvation Foundation
Also known as The Group for the Preservation of the Holy Sites

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
Also known as FARC
Also known as Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia

Revolutionary Nuclei
Also known as the Revolutionary People's Struggle
Also known as Epanastatikos Laikos Agonas
Also known as ELA
Also known as Revolutionary Popular Struggle
Also known as Popular Revolutionary Struggle
Also known as June 78
Also known as Organization of Revolutionary Internationalist Solidarity
Also known as Revolutionary Cells
Also known as Liberation Struggle

Revolutionary Organization 17 November
Also known as 17 November
Also known as Epanastatiki Organosi 17 Noemvri

Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front
Also known as Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi-Cephesi
Also known as the DHKP/C
Also known as Devrimci Sol
Also known as Revolutionary Left
Also known as Dev Sol
Also known as Dev Sol Silahli Devrimci Birlikleri
Also known as Dev Sol SDB
Also known as Dev Sol Armed Revolutionary Units

Shining Path
Also known in Spanish as Sendero Luminoso
Also known as SL
Also known as Partido Comunista del Peru en el Sendero Luminoso de Jose Carlos Mariategui
Also known as Communist Party of Peru on the Shining Path of Jose Carlos Mariategui
Also known as Partido Comunista del Peru
Also known as Communist Party of Peru
Also known as PCP
Also known as Socorro Popular del Peru
Also known as People's Aid of Peru
Also known as SPP
Also known as Ejercito Guerrillero Popular
Also known as People's Guerrilla Army
Also known as EGP
Also known as Ejercito Popular de Liberacion
Also known as People's Liberation Army
Also known as the EPL.

Dated: 28 September 2001.

(from: www.cryptome.org)

UK: Groups proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2001 came into force on 29 March, 2001:

1. Al-Qa'ida
2. The Egyptian Islamic Jihad
3. Al-Gama'at al-Islamiya
4. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
5. The Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
6. Babbar Khalsa
7. The International Sikh Youth Federation
8. Harakat Mujahideen
9. Jaish e Mohammed
10. Lashkar e Tayyaba
11. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
12. The Hitzballah External Security Organisation
13. Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades
14. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad -Shaqaqi
15. The Abu Nidal Organisation
16. The Islamic Army of Aden
17. Mujaheddin e Khalq
18. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
19. The Revolutionary Peoples' Liberation Party (DHKC-P)
20. ETA
21. The November 17 Revolutionary Organisation