AVAX: India amends order enforcing UN sanctions on Libya

India has added the vessel AVAX to its order implementing United Nations Security Council sanctions on Libya, through a Ministry of External Affairs amendment published on 24 October 2026. The amendment, S.O. 5773(E), inserts an entry identifying the ship by IMO number 9058713 and specifying restrictions on petroleum movements, port entry, vessel services and petroleum-related financial transactions.

The ministry’s order is dated 22 October 2026 and takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette. Its publication therefore brings the Indian amendment into force on 24 October, separately from the UN listing date of 22 July 2026 recorded in the entry.

The UN Security Council’s Libya sanctions committee said in its narrative summary that AVAX was listed for attempting to illicitly export petroleum, based on information received from the Government of Libya. That is the committee’s stated basis for the designation, rather than a finding made through the Indian amendment.

What the Indian amendment changes

The ministry has amended the Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Libya Order, 2016. The new vessel entry, numbered Lye.006, is inserted in Annexure 3 of the Schedule under “B. Entities and other groups”, after paragraph Lye.002 and its related entries.

The Central Government issued the amendment under Section 2 of the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1947. The order cites that provision as its authority to amend India’s framework for implementing the Security Council’s Libya resolutions; it does not set out a separate investigation into the vessel’s conduct.

The inserted entry identifies four categories of prohibition: loading, transporting or discharging; entering ports; providing bunkering and vessel services; and engaging in financial transactions concerning petroleum. Bunkering means supplying fuel to a ship. The restrictions thus extend beyond the movement of cargo to services supporting the vessel and financial dealings connected with petroleum.

Those categories matter to different parts of a shipping transaction. Port entry concerns access to harbour facilities, while bunkering and vessel services concern support supplied to the ship. The financial restriction is expressly described in the entry as relating to petroleum, rather than as a prohibition on every financial transaction.

The amendment’s wording should not be confused with a general asset freeze on every party associated with AVAX. The inserted entry specifies the vessel-related measures, but does not separately name an owner or operator as a new target of the Indian order.

Why the UN listed AVAX

The Libya sanctions committee’s communication SCA/13/26 (03), dated 23 July 2026, records its approval of one addition to the sanctions list the previous day: AVAX. The communication describes the relevant petroleum measures as covering attempts to illicitly export both crude oil and refined petroleum products from Libya.

The committee’s narrative summary attributes the information supporting this designation to the Government of Libya. It does not describe the underlying evidence in detail, identify a cargo quantity or value, or give an account from the vessel’s operator. The published reason is therefore narrower than a documented account of a completed illicit shipment.

Both the UN communication and India’s inserted entry identify Cameroon as the vessel’s flag state, meaning the state under whose flag the ship is registered. They also record that AVAX was near the anchorage area of Benghazi Old Harbour in Libya as of 4 April 2026.

That location is a dated observation, not an account of where the ship was when India published its amendment. Neither document provides a newer position for the vessel.

The designation has a stated end date

The Indian entry reproduces the designation period of 22 July 2026 to 22 July 2027, unless the Libya sanctions committee terminates it earlier. The October amendment does not describe a fresh one-year period beginning with publication in India.

The legal chain recorded in the entry begins with paragraphs 10(a) to 10(d) of Security Council resolution 2146 (2014). It cites amendments under paragraph 2 of resolutions 2441 (2018) and 2509 (2020), and an extension under resolution 2819 (2026). These are the provisions to which the entry attributes the four categories of restriction.

For the designation’s duration, the entry cites paragraph 11 of resolution 2146, as modified by resolution 2509. It identifies paragraph 12 of resolution 2146 as the basis for possible early termination by the committee. The stated end date is consequently subject to that express qualification.

Britain’s July notice covered the same vessel

The UK’s sanctions notice dated 24 July 2026 records that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office added AVAX to the UK Sanctions List that day. It identifies the same IMO number and lists Nazar Maritime SA as the owner-operator in that notice.

The UK notice describes shipping sanctions under the Libya (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. These include restrictions on access to UK ports, possible termination of UK ship registration, and powers to issue port-barring, detention, port-entry or movement directions. Those are descriptions of the UK regime, not additional provisions contained in India’s amendment.

For India’s domestic framework, the ministry’s publication note records that the original Libya implementation order was published on 21 June 2016 through S.O. 2158(E), dated 20 June 2016. Before the AVAX insertion, its last amendment was S.O. 1305(E), dated 12 March 2026.