MFA: Spokesperson on Revised UN Sanctions Under Consideration

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STATEMENT BY SPOKESPERSON

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

May 7, 2002

Q - Apparently, there's a move at the U.N. towards modifying the sanctions regime against Iraq? Do you have any comment?

We are actually very close to an agreement. We now have an agreement, almost final, on the content of the list, what is called the Goods Review List; this will represent a substantial easing of the civil sanctions regime against Iraq. The mechanism should exempt from prior approval a good many contracts for purely civil goods since it limits the monitoring of transactions with Iraq to contracts for dual-use goods on the list which will be annexed to the resolution. We have supported this change since the beginning. It should be adopted quickly.

Q - And control over revenue?

That is not directly affected by the resolution. What is at issue here is the system of approval of exports to Iraq.

Q - What will be the principle of the oil-for-food mechanism after this change?

The principle of the mechanism remains. Procedures will be altered for contracts for civil and dual-use goods since the new system will replace the old. The secretariat, and no longer the sanctions committee, will review applications for purely civil goods. With regard to the so-called contracts on hold, they would be transferred under the new system, once a number of technical modalities have been worked out.

Q - Under what new system? How will it be done?

The basic idea is that contracts on hold will be considered in the context of the new system once the system has been approved.

Q - How, if there's no need to request authorization?

Authorization from the Sanctions Committee will not be needed for goods that are not on the new list.

Q - But an authorization from the U.N. secretariat is still needed?

Yes. The secretariat will check if the item is on the list or not because obviously there could be cases where an item might be dual-use but wouldn't be presented to the secretariat as such. So there needs to be a system of monitoring.

As of August 2006, Iraq Watch is no longer being updated. Click here for more information.

Search WMD profiles Iraqi entities of concern Iraq's suppliers UN documents Government documents Controlled items Perspectives	STATEMENT BY SPOKESPERSON French Ministry of Foreign Affairs May 7, 2002 Q - Apparently, there's a move at the U.N. towards modifying the sanctions regime against Iraq? Do you have any comment? We are actually very close to an agreement. We now have an agreement, almost final, on the content of the list, what is called the Goods Review List; this will represent a substantial easing of the civil sanctions regime against Iraq. The mechanism should exempt from prior approval a good many contracts for purely civil goods since it limits the monitoring of transactions with Iraq to contracts for dual-use goods on the list which will be annexed to the resolution. We have supported this change since the beginning. It should be adopted quickly. Q - And control over revenue? That is not directly affected by the resolution. What is at issue here is the system of approval of exports to Iraq. Q - What will be the principle of the oil-for-food mechanism after this change? The principle of the mechanism remains. Procedures will be altered for contracts for civil and dual-use goods since the new system will replace the old. The secretariat, and no longer the sanctions committee, will review applications for purely civil goods. With regard to the so-called contracts on hold, they would be transferred under the new system, once a number of technical modalities have been worked out. Q - Under what new system? How will it be done? The basic idea is that contracts on hold will be considered in the context of the new system once the system has been approved. Q - How, if there's no need to request authorization? Authorization from the Sanctions Committee will not be needed for goods that are not on the new list. Q - But an authorization from the U.N. secretariat is still needed? Yes. The secretariat will check if the item is on the list or not because obviously there could be cases where an item might be dual-use but wouldn't be presented to the secretariat as such. So there needs to be a system of monitoring.