Article 1
Open ↗Article 16a of Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 16a 1. The prohibitions set out in Article 14(1) and (2) shall not apply until 25 August 2023 to the making available of funds or economic resources necessary to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities that support basic human needs where such assistance and other activities are carried out by: (a) the United Nations, including its programmes, funds and other entities and bodies, as well as its specialised agencies and related organisations; (b) international organisations; (c) humanitarian organisations having observer status with the United Nations General Assembly and members of those humanitarian organisations; (d) bilaterally or multilaterally funded non-governmental organisations participating in the United Nations Humanitarian Response Plans, Refugee Response Plans, other United Nations appeals or humanitarian clusters coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); (e) public bodies or legal persons, entities or bodies which receive public funding from the Union or Member States to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities that support basic human needs for the civilian population in Syria; (f) where not covered by paragraphs (a) to (d), organisations and agencies which are pillar-assessed by the Union and with which the Union has signed a financial framework partnership agreement on the basis of which the organisations and agencies act as humanitarian partners of the Union; (g) organisations and agencies to which the Union has granted the Humanitarian Partnership Certificate or which are certified or recognised by a Member State in accordance with national procedures; (h) Member States’ specialised agencies; or by (i) the employees, grantees, subsidiaries, or implementing partners of the entities mentioned in points (a) to (h) while and to the extent that they are acting in those capacities. 2. The prohibition set out in Article 14(2) shall not apply to funds or economic resources made available by public bodies or by legal persons, entities or bodies which receive public funding from the Union or Member States to provide humanitarian relief in Syria or assistance to the civilian population in Syria where the provision of such funds or economic resources is in accordance with Article 6a(1). 3. In cases not covered by paragraphs 1 and 2, and by way of derogation from Article 14(2), the competent authority of the Member States, as identified on the websites listed in Annex III, may authorise the making available of certain funds or economic resources, under the general and specific terms and conditions it deems appropriate, provided that the funds or economic resources are necessary for the sole purpose of providing humanitarian relief in Syria or assistance to the civilian population in Syria. 4. In cases not covered by paragraphs 1 and 2, and by way of derogation from Article 14(1), the competent authority of the Member State, as identified on the websites listed in Annex III, may authorise the release of certain frozen funds or economic resources, under the general and specific terms and conditions it deems appropriate, provided that: (a) the funds or economic resources are necessary for the sole purpose of providing humanitarian relief in Syria or assistance to the civilian population in Syria; and (b) the funds or economic resources are released to the UN for the purpose of delivering or facilitating the delivery of assistance in Syria in accordance with the Syrian Humanitarian Response Plan or any successor plan coordinated by the UN. 5. The Member State concerned shall inform the other Member States and the Commission of any authorisation granted under paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article within two weeks of any authorisation granted.’.