2024-10-13
The President of the Republic of Djibouti issued Order No. 2024-113/PM/2024 to establish a nine-member Technical Committee responsible for implementing and managing targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism financing and weapons of mass destruction proliferation. The National Financial Intelligence Agency (ANRF) serves as the Committee's secretariat, handling meeting logistics, form management, website maintenance, and preliminary case reviews while ensuring timely publication of decisions in the Official Gazette. The Order mandates that designated financial and non-financial entities report frozen assets within six hours, provides conservation measures for long-term freezes exceeding thirty days, and allocates operational costs to the State Budget.
UNITY-EQUALITY-PEACE
VISAS:
ORDER NO. 2024-113/PM/2024
Establishing the Technical Committee for the Implementation and Management of Targeted Financial Sanctions Related to Terrorism Financing and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
HEAD OF GOVERNMENT
WHEREAS the Constitution of 15 September 1992;
WHEREAS Constitutional Law No. 92/AN/10/6th L of 21 April 2010 amending the Constitution;
WHEREAS Law No. 104/AN/24/9th L of 6 March 2024, amending Law No. 110/AN/11/6th L on combating terrorism financing;
WHEREAS Law No. 105/AN/24/9th L of 6 March 2024, amending Law No. 111/AN/11/6th L on combating terrorism and other serious offenses;
WHEREAS Law No. 106/AN/24/9th L of 6 March 2024, on combating money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
WHEREAS Decree No. 2006-0083/PR/MJAPM on the organization and operational procedures of the Financial Intelligence Service, created within the Central Bank of Djibouti on 27 March 2006;
WHEREAS Decree No. 2021-105/PM of 24 May 2021 appointing the Prime Minister;
WHEREAS Decree No. 2021-106/PM of 24 May 2021 appointing members of the Government;
WHEREAS Decree No. 2021-114/PM of 31 May 2021 defining the functions of Ministries;
WHEREAS Decree No. 2022-001/PM of 2 January 2022 on cabinet reshuffle;
WHEREAS the Council of Ministers heard in its session on 10 September 2024
Article 1: In accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of Decree No. 2024-053/PR/MJDH on the implementation regime for targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the Technical Committee is composed as follows:
Article 2: The Technical Committee is responsible for implementing the provisions of Decree No. 2024-053/PR/MJDH on the implementation regime for targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In this framework, it is assisted in performing its functions by the National Financial Intelligence Agency (ANRF), which serves as the secretariat for the purposes of this Order.
Article 3: The ANRF prepares the agendas and minutes of the Technical Committee meetings. These are signed by the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson, and by the Director General of the ANRF in its capacity as Secretary of the Technical Committee.
Article 4: The ANRF sends meeting invitations to members of the Technical Committee or their representatives. For the proper organization of virtual meetings, organized notably to address emergency situations, the ANRF is responsible for the following duties:
The ANRF maintains up-to-date email and digital addresses of committee members to send them meeting documents and enable them to connect to an online meeting platform;
The ANRF subscribes to a secure provider of online meeting spaces to organize Technical Committee meetings in virtual mode.
Article 5: The ANRF is responsible for establishing the forms necessary for the proper functioning of the Technical Committee. In this framework, it establishes the following forms, annexed to this Order, along with the list of supporting documents:
Form for referring a designation proposal to the Technical Committee (application of Art. 7 of Decree No. 2024-053/PR/MJDH);
Form for informing the Technical Committee by designated financial and non-financial entities of the existence of frozen funds and other economic assets and resources (application of Art. 13 of Decree No. 2024-053/PR/MJDH);
Form for referring an appeal against a designation decision to the Technical Committee (application of Art. 14 of Decree No. 2024-053/PR/MJDH);
Form for referring a request for an exemption to the Technical Committee (application of Arts. 16 and 17 of Decree No. 2024-053/PR/MJDH);
Form for referring a request for removal from the list of sanctioned entities to the Technical Committee (application of Art. 19 of Decree No. 2024-053/PR/MJDH).
Article 6: The ANRF is responsible for the preliminary examination of referrals to the Committee. In this framework, it examines or prepares the necessary forms, verifies the list of supporting documents, and cross-references transmitted information with data it holds.
The ANRF subsequently prepares a decision proposal, which is submitted for the Technical Committee's review.
The ANRF does not have the power to dismiss on its own initiative a referral to the Technical Committee that is incomplete for any reason. In case of an incomplete file, the ANRF submits to the Technical Committee, as appropriate, a proposal for rejection or adjournment of the request to allow completion with necessary information.
Article 7: The ANRF is responsible for maintaining the Technical Committee's website. The ANRF defines optimal procedures for website maintenance based on available operational and budgetary capacities: either a separate space on the ANRF's own website, or a dedicated site exclusively for the Technical Committee.
Article 8: The ANRF is responsible for informing designated financial and non-financial entities of all Committee decisions, whether new designations, accepted appeals, accepted exemptions, or accepted removal requests. This information is not required for rejected appeals, rejected exemptions, or rejected removal requests.
Under this information procedure, the following provisions are implemented:
Any decision, of any nature, is published immediately on the Technical Committee's website. A dedicated section of the website must contain all currently valid decisions, as well as the history of ongoing or past designations, removals, and exemptions.
Any new designation decision is accompanied by a detailed email sent to each designated financial and non-financial entity. To facilitate this procedure, the ANRF maintains an up-to-date list of designated financial and non-financial entities including email addresses of their heads, as well as, where applicable, their compliance officers or officers responsible for combating money laundering or terrorism financing. The email must indicate the conditions under which designated financial and non-financial entities must report within a maximum period of 6 hours on the freezing of funds and other economic assets and resources, where applicable.
Article 9: The ANRF collects feedback from designated financial and non-financial entities in application of Art. 6 of this Order. The ANRF maintains and updates a register of frozen funds and other economic assets and resources.
Article 10: For funds and other economic assets and resources frozen for more than 30 days without a prospect of release within less than 30 days, the ANRF proposes to the Technical Committee conservation measures to preserve the value of the concerned assets, including as needed by transferring the funds to an account opened in the name of the ANRF and operating under the signature of the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson of the Technical Committee and the Director General of the ANRF.
Article 11: The ANRF ensures the publication of the Technical Committee's decisions in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Djibouti, no later than the next day's edition following the decision.
Article 12: The costs related to the operation of the Technical Committee are charged to the State Budget.
Article 13: This Order shall be registered and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Djibouti.
Done at Djibouti, on 10 OCT. 2024
The President of the Republic
Head of Government
ISMAIL OMAR GUELLEH