European Commission publishes consolidated list of travel bans and other sanctions

The European Union Commission has published a consolidated list of travel bans in its EU Sanctions Map tool.

Announcing the news, the Commission explained that this tool will allow EU citizens to see who is subject to a travel ban under the sanctions measures and therefore banned from traveling to the EU, reports SchengenVisaInfo. com.

According to the Commission, the sanctions tool is available to the authorities of each Member State as well as to EU citizens. It has been revealed that the aim of the Sanctions tool is to provide easily accessible data and information on the restrictive measures that have been adopted by the EU so far.

The EU Sanctions Map tool shows that restrictive measures currently apply to persons and entities from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Venezuela, from Guinea, Mali, Tunisia, Libya, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar.

The countries to which the most thematic restrictions currently apply are Belarus, North Korea, Russia and Syria.

The Commission underlined that the information on the EU sanctions map is regularly updated following any changes to the existing sanctions regimes.

Commenting on the release of the consolidated travel ban list, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell said travel bans are an essential part of the EU’s foreign policy toolkit. EU and a key feature of most sanctions regimes.

“Since 2014, the Council has imposed travel bans on 1,091 people in response to their actions violating Ukraine’s sovereignty. Since the start of the illegal Russian aggression in Ukraine this year, around 900 travel bans restricting entry into EU territory have been imposed on people who support and facilitate this aggression,” Borrel added.

Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, responsible for Sanctions Implementation, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, also commented on the list. She said it is very important that there is transparency.

“This includes those involved in one way or another in Russia’s unjustified aggression against the Ukrainian people. We have now updated our publicly available tool, which helps facilitate the implementation of our sanctions. Our sanctions map is one more way to shed light on those responsible,” reads McGuinness’ statement.

EU authorities impose travel bans and other restrictive measures on individuals and entities to prevent conflict or respond to emerging or ongoing crises. Currently, the EU has more than 40 different sanctions regimes in place.