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INTRODUCTION
On 4 August 1990 HM Treasury issued directions under the Emergency Laws (Re- enactments and Repeals) Act 1964 which have the effect of freezing certain Iraqi assets held in the United Kingdom.
2 The directions are contained in Statutory Instrument 1990 No 1616 which may be cited as The Control of Gold, Securities, Payments and Credits (Republic of Iraq) Directions 1990. Copies may be obtained from HM Stationery Office.
3 Article 2 of the Statutory Instrument reads as follows:- "Except with permission granted by or on behalf of the Treasury, no order given by or on behalf of the government of or any person resident in the Republic of Iraq at the time of the coming into force of these directions or at any later time while these directions are in force, shall be carried out, insofar as the order :-
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(i)
(ii)
requires the person to whom the order is given to make any payment or to part with any gold or securities; or
requires any change to be made in the persons to whose credit any sum is to stand or to whose order any gold or securities is to be held."
These directions apply to all persons (including bodies corporate) in the United Kingdom, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and to all other persons, wherever they may be, who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and who are citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies* or British protected persons.
Residents of Iraq
For the purposes of the directions, a resident of Iraq is any person, including any body corporate, normally resident in that country on 4 August 1990 or at any later time. A branch in Iraq of any business is treated as if the branch were a body corporate resident in Iraq. Orders given by branches outside Iraq of any body corporate resident in Iraq or by branches of any business whose head office is in Iraq are given on behalf of persons resident in Iraq, irrespective of the location of such branches. Persons resident or becoming resident in Iraq should not subsequently be treated as resident elsewhere without prior reference to the Bank of England.
6 Residential status should be determined by reference to the facts. Cases of doubt
should be referred to the Bank of England.
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Overseas Branches of United Kingdom companies and businesses
Branches outside the United Kingdom of companies incorporated in the United Kingdom and of businesses whose head offices are in the United Kingdom may continue to comply with orders from persons who are resident in Iraq but permissions will not normally be given to enable orders received by persons subject to the directions from persons resident in Iraq to be transferred to and executed by branches outside the United Kingdom.
Iraqi Accounts
The sterling, foreign currency and gold bullion accounts of persons resident in Iraq held in the United Kingdom with institutions authorised under the Banking Act 1987 or the Building Societies Act 1986 ("banks”) should be designated and are referred to below as "Iraqi Accounts". Funds held by stockbrokers, solicitors, accountants, etc, on behalf of Iraqi residents, should be placed in a separate account.
*In this paragraph "citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies" means a British citizen, a British Dependant Territories citizen or a British Overseas citizen or a person who under the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986 is a British National (Overseas). See the British Nationality Act 1981 Section 51 (3) (a) (ii).
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