Judgment of the General Court of 12 November 2013 – North Drilling v Council
(Case T-552/12) 1
(Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures against Iran with the aim of preventing nuclear proliferation – Freezing of funds – Error of fact – Temporal adjustment of the effects of an annulment)
Language of the case: Spanish
Parties
Applicant: North Drilling Co. (Teheran, Iran) (represented by: J. Viñals Camallonga, L. Barriola Urruticoechea and J. Iriarte Ángel, lawyers)
Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: M. Bishop and A. De Elera, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application for annulment, first, of Council Decision 2012/635/CFSP of 15 October 2012 amending Decision 2010/413/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Iran (OJ 2012 L 282, p. 58), and, secondly, of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 945/2012 of 15 October 2012 implementing Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran (OJ 2012 L 282, p. 16), in so far as those measures affect the applicant.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls Council Decision 2012/635/CFSP of 15 October 2012 amending Decision 2010/413/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Iran in so far as it included the name of North Drilling Co. in Annex II to Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP of 26 July 2010 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Common Position 2007/140/CFSP;
Annuls Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 945/2012 of 15 October 2012 implementing Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran in so far as it included the name of North Drilling in Annex IX to Council Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 of 23 March 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EU) No 961/2010;
Annuls Annex IX to Regulation No 267/2012 in so far as it concerns North Drilling;
Orders the effects of Decision 2010/413, as amended by Decision 2012/635, to be maintained as regards North Drilling from its entry into force, on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, until the partial annulment of Regulation No 267/2012 takes effect;
Orders the Council of the European Union to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by North Drilling in the present proceedings and in the proceedings for interim measures.
________________________1 OJ C 46, 16.2.2013.