The Council of the European Union Regulation for protecting against the effects of the extra-territorial application of legislation adopted by a third country, and actions based thereon or resulting there from

Following the non-legal departure of the USA from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the European Union recently issued an updated version of the Blocking Statute which was issued on 22November 1996.

The enforcement of the law will be undertaken by the EU member states and it is vital that itshould be implemented at national level.

The EU member states are required to take the necessary measures to deal with the laws and regulations of the American sanctions in order to support and protect their companies.

Article 5 of the law provides the legal basis for the punishment of those who abide by the American Sanctions Act against Iran. According to the provisions of this article, in the event of any European firm or company refusing to implement the Blocking Statute and choosing instead to impose American sanctions, EU member states are obliged to punish those entities at national level.

Furthermore, according to article 9, each member state of the European Union will determine the nature of the punishment that should be imposed in the case of the violation of this law.

The link of the Blocking Statute is as follow:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31996R2271&from=EN