CANADA'S IMPLEMENTATION OF UNSCR 1747 ON IRAN

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000578 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN/RA (RICHARD NEPHEW),ISN/CPI (ANTHONY RUGGIERO),WHA/CAN, EEB/ESC/TFS, AND NEA/IR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP PARM EFIN KTFN ETTC IR CA SUBJECT: CANADA'S IMPLEMENTATION OF UNSCR 1747 ON IRAN REF: A. OTTAWA 453 ¶B. STATE 38553 ¶1. (SBU) On March 28, Economic Minister-Counselor delivered ref B demarche to John Hannaford, Director of DFAIT's United Nations, Human Rights, and Economic Law Division and urged quick GoC action to implement sanctions imposed by UNSCR 1747, especially with regard to Bank Sepah. Economic Minister-Counselor noted that on March 24, Foreign Minister MacKay issued a statement after the unanimous adoption of UNSCR 1747, saying that Canada fully supports the resolution, as it did UNSCR 1737 on Iran. MacKay said that Canada will implement the measures outlined in the new resolution "fully and expeditiously." ¶2. (SBU) Hannaford explained that the GoC bureaucracy is moving quickly to implement fully UNSCR 1747 through procedures laid down to implement UNSCR 1737 (ref A). With specific reference to Bank Sepah and other entities and individuals named in the Resolution, he said that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI) has already acted. On March 27, OSFI issued a notice to all Canadian Financial Institutions, ordering them to review their records for the accounts of the listed individuals and entities and to freeze assets if they are found. GoC departments are developing regulations to implement other parts of the Resolution, such as import restrictions. These will be assembled into a package for consideration by Canada's Treasury Board, the Cabinet body which reviews government regulations. The regulations will go into effect upon the approval of the Governor General in Council, acting under the authority of the United Nations Act. Hannaford declined to speculate when this step will be taken, saying only that it will be done long before the end of the 60 day period after which countries must report on their actions to carry out UNSCR 1747. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa DICKSON