Freezing of assets: amendment of Sovereign Order no 8.664 of 26 May 2021 (November 2022)

Sovereign Order n° 9.533 of 7th November 2022 (JDM n° 8615 of 11 November 2022) amends Sovereign Order no. 8.664 of 26 May 2021 on procedures for freezing funds and economic resources in application of international economic sanctions (which had already been amended by Sovereign Orders no. 9.098 of 11 February 2022 and no. 9.171 of 4 April 2022).

SUMMARY

— Articles 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 7-1, 8, 13: replacements and additions concerning the general provisions, among others:

• New Government of Monaco website dedicated to the freezing of funds and economic resources > https://geldefonds.gouv.mc/ which offers new functionalities compared to the former "section" (possibility to subscribe to notifications of updates of the national list and to news; "API freezing of funds" for direct access to the flow of the national list ("application programming interface", the functionality of which is to allow software or services to be connected to each other in order to exchange data and functionalities; etc.) taking into account the recommendations made in the framework of the evaluation by MONEYVAL (Government press release of 4 November 2022, "Le site internet des Gels de fonds évolue").
• Implicit freezing decisions by the Minister of State (UN Security Council lists and competent committees): it is specified that, in the event that implicit decisions are not the subject of a formal decision by the Minister of State within the 10-day time limit, they remain in force until the publication of the formal decision.
• Designations of persons and entities by the Minister of State: it is specified that they are not subject to the existence of criminal proceedings.

— New Article 8-1: new provisions relating to the exchange of information between credit institutions, other financial institutions, insurance companies, other bodies, entities or persons, and the Budget and Treasury Department, as well as between the Budget and Treasury Department and other State departments responsible for preparing or implementing any freezing measure;

— New Articles 14-1 to 14-3: addition of specific provisions on restrictive measures adopted by the European Union with regard to actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine:

! New obligation for natural or legal persons, entities or bodies designated by the Minister of State in application of the said restrictive measures to declare the funds or economic resources which they own, hold or control on the territory of the Principality, to the Budget and Treasury Department on the form (to be downloaded online), before 1 December 2022 or within six weeks from the date of designation, whichever is the latest !