For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

‘claim’ means any claim, whether asserted by legal proceedings or not, made before or after the date of entry into force of this Regulation, under or in connection with a contract or transaction, and in particular:

a claim for the performance of any obligation arising under or in connection with a contract or transaction;

a claim for the extension or payment of a bond, financial guarantee or indemnity of whatever form;

a claim for compensation in respect of a contract or transaction;

a counterclaim;

a claim for the recognition or enforcement, including by the procedure of exequatur, of a judgment, an arbitration award or an equivalent decision, wherever made or given;

‘contract or transaction’ means any transaction of whatever form and whatever the applicable law, whether comprising one or more contracts or similar obligations made between the same or different parties; for this purpose ‘contract’ includes a bond, guarantee or indemnity, particularly a financial guarantee or financial indemnity, and credit, whether legally independent or not, as well as any related provision arising under, or in connection with, the transaction;

‘competent authorities’ refers to the competent authorities of the Member States as identified on the websites listed in Annex II;

‘economic resources’ means assets of every kind, whether tangible or intangible, movable or immovable, which are not funds, but which may be used to obtain funds, goods or services;

‘freezing of economic resources’ means preventing the use of economic resources to obtain funds, goods or services in any way, including, but not limited to, by selling, hiring or mortgaging them;

‘freezing of funds’ means preventing any move, transfer, alteration, use of, access to, or dealing with funds in any way that would result in any change in their volume, amount, location, ownership, possession, character, destination or other change that would enable the funds to be used, including portfolio management;

‘funds’ means financial assets and benefit of every kind, including, but not limited to:

cash, cheques, claims on money, drafts, money orders and other payment instruments;

deposits with financial institutions or other entities, balances on accounts, debts and debt obligations;

publicly and privately-traded securities and debt instruments, including stocks and shares, certificates representing securities, bonds, notes, warrants, debentures and derivatives contracts;

interest, dividends or other income on or value accruing from or generated by assets;

credit, right of set-off, guarantees, performance bonds or other financial commitments;

letters of credit, bills of lading, bills of sale;

documents showing evidence of an interest in funds or financial resources;

‘territory of the Union’ means the territories of the Member States to which the Treaty on European Union is applicable, under the conditions laid down in that Treaty, including their airspace.

COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2023/2406 of 23 October 2023 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Niger ANNEX I ANNEX II