Article 1
Open ↗Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 is amended as follows: (1) in Article 6b, paragraph 2b is replaced by the following: ‘2b. By way of derogation from Article 2, the competent authorities of a Member State may, under such conditions as they deem appropriate, authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources, or the making available of certain funds or economic resources to the entity listed under entry number 108 in Annex I, after having determined that the funds or economic resources are necessary for the completion, by 17 June 2023, of an ongoing sale and transfer of proprietary rights directly or indirectly owned by that entity in a legal person, entity or body established in the Union. That deadline does not retroactively validate divestments not compliant with the necessary requirements under this Regulation.’; (2) in Article 6b, the following paragraph is inserted: ‘2c. By way of derogation from Article 2, the competent authorities of a Member State may authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources belonging to the entities listed under entry numbers 126 and 127 under the heading “Entities” in Annex I, or the making available of certain funds or economic resources to those entities, under such conditions as the competent authorities deem appropriate and after having determined that such funds or economic resources are necessary for the termination by 17 June 2023, of operations, contracts, or other agreements, including correspondent banking relations, concluded with those entities before 16 December 2022.’; (3) in point (a) of Article 6b(3), the date ‘31 December 2022’ is replaced by the date ’28 February 2023’; (4) in Article 6e, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. By way of derogation from Article 2, the competent authorities of a Member State may authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources belonging to the entities listed under entry numbers 53, 54, 55, 79, 80, 81, 82, 108, 126 and 127 in Annex I, or the making available of certain funds or economic resources to those entities, under such conditions as the competent authorities deem appropriate and after having determined that such funds or economic resources are necessary for the purchase, import or transport of agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers.’; (5) in Article 6e, the following paragraph is inserted: ‘1a. By way of derogation from Article 2, the competent authorities of a Member State, based on a specific and case-by-case assessment, may authorise, for each relevant transaction separately, the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources belonging to natural persons listed in Annex I who held a significant role in international trade in agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers, prior to their listing, or the making available of certain funds or economic resources to those persons, under such conditions as the competent authorities deem appropriate and after having determined that such funds or resources are necessary for the sale, supply, transfer or export of agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers, to third countries in order to address food security.’; (6) in Article 6e, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2. The Member State concerned shall, when authorising such operations, act in close cooperation with the Commission. It shall inform the other Member States of any authorisation granted under paragraphs 1 and 1a, within two weeks of the authorisation.’; (7) in Article 6e, the following paragraph is added: ‘3. The Commission shall report to the Council, no later than 17 June 2023 and every six months thereafter, a compilation of the information received from the Member States in relation to the derogation in paragraph 1a.’; (8) in Article 8, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: ‘3. Any information provided to or received by the competent authorities of the Member States in accordance with this Article shall be used by those authorities only for the purposes for which it was provided or received.’; (9) in Article 9, paragraph 6 is replaced by the following: ‘6. Any information provided to or received by the competent authorities of the Member States in accordance with this Article shall be used by those authorities only for the purposes for which it was provided or received.’; (10) in Article 12, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. The Commission and the Member States shall inform each other of the measures taken under this Regulation and share any other relevant information at their disposal in connection with this Regulation, in particular information: (a) in respect of funds frozen under Article 2 and authorisations granted under the derogations set out in this Regulation; (b) in respect of violation and enforcement problems and judgments handed down by national courts.’; (11) the following Article is inserted: ‘Article 16a Any information provided to or received by the Commission in accordance with this Regulation shall be used by the Commission only for the purposes for which it was provided or received.’.