Sanctions and restrictive measures

In addition, the Council of the EU can impose restrictive measures on specific states, persons or entities. Norway is obliged under international law to implement sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council, and can choose to align itself with the EU and impose the same restrictive measures after a case-by-case evaluation. Some sanctions and restrictive measures include provisions on arms embargoes.

UN sanctions and EU restrictive measures have to be implemented in Norwegian legislation before they can be made binding on private legal entities in Norway. This is normally done by adopting regulations under one of two acts that provide the legal authority for such measures. Sanctions that are adopted by the UN Security Council are normally implemented by means of regulations under the Act of 7 June 1968 No. 4 relating to the implementation of mandatory decisions of the United Nations Security Council. EU restrictive measures and other international non-military measures with which Norway has aligned itself can be implemented through regulations under the Act of 27 April 2001 No. 14 relating to the implementation of international, non-military measures involving the suspension of or restrictions on economic and other relations with third countries or movements.

Certain types of measures included in UN sanctions and/or EU restrictive measures are implemented under other Norwegian legislation. Arms embargoes are often implemented under the ordinary export control legislation, so that only some of the Norwegian regulations on sanctions and restrictive measures expressly mention arms embargoes.