On April 4, 2024, the Council adopted Decision (CSBP) 2024/1025.

In order to increase consistency between the restrictive measures imposed by the Union and those adopted by the UN Security Council or its sanctions committees, and to ensure the timely provision of humanitarian aid or support for other activities that support basic human needs, the Council decided to introduce exemptions from the measures consisting of the freezing of assets of natural or legal persons, entities or bodies designated under Decision (CSBP) 2020/1999, and from the restriction of access to financial and economic resources for these persons and entities or bodies, in favor of actors listed in UN Security Council resolution 2664 (2022), organizations and agencies to which the Union has granted humanitarian partnership accreditation, organizations and agencies certified or recognized by a Member State, or specialized agencies of Member States.

The Decision also amends the existing exemption mechanism for organizations and actors involved in humanitarian activities that are unable to benefit from the above-mentioned exemptions. The Council also decided that, instead of the above-mentioned exemptions, the exemption mechanism should be used in cases where the Council has concluded that control by the relevant national authorities is necessary due to a higher risk of misuse of the financial or economic resources provided for purposes other than humanitarian aid, in accordance with Decision (CSBP) 2020/1999.

The candidate countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the EFTA countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, join this Decision of the Council. These countries will ensure that their national policies are aligned with this Decision of the Council.

The European Union takes note of this commitment and welcomes it.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/cs/press/press-releases/2024/04/17/statement-by-the-high-representative-on-behalf-of-the-eu-on-the-alignment-of-certain-third-countries-concerning-restrictive-measures-against-serious-human-rights-violations-and-abuses