Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 23 September 2014 — Ipatau v Council
(Case T-646/11)
Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures taken against Belarus — Freezing of funds and economic resources — Restrictions on the entry into and transit through the European Union — Action for annulment — Time-limit for instituting proceedings — Admissibility — Obligation to state reasons — Rights of the defence — Error of assessment
1. Actions for annulment — Time-limits — Point from which time starts to run — Measure entailing restrictive measures against a person or body — Measure published and notified to the addressees — Date of notification of the measure (Arts 263, fourth and sixth paras, TFEU and 275, second para., TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 102; Council Decisions 2011/666/CFSP and 2012/642/CFSP; Council Regulations No 1000/2011 and No 1017/2012) (see paras 44-47)
2. Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Belarus — Freezing of funds — Rights of defence — Disclosure of inculpatory evidence — Subsequent decision maintaining the name of the applicant on the list of persons covered by those measures — Infringement of the right to be heard — None (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(2)(a); Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP; Council Regulation No 1017/2012) (see paras 72-81)
3. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Restrictive measures against Belarus — Freezing of funds of certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Belarus — Minimum requirements (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Decisions 2011/666/CFSP and 2012/642/CFSP; Council Regulations No 1000/2011 and No 1017/2012) (see paras 92-96, 104)
4. Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Belarus — Freezing of funds of certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Belarus — Nature of those measures — No criminal character (Council Decisions 2011/666/CFSP and 2012/642/CFSP; Council Regulations No 1000/2011 and No 1017/2012) (see para. 113)
5. European Union — Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions — Restrictive measures taken against Belarus — Freezing of funds of certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Belarus — Ambit of the review (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47; Council Decisions 2011/666/CFSP and 2012/642/CFSP; Council Regulations No 1000/2011 and No 1017/2012) (see paras 132-135)
Re:
| ACTION for annulment of Council Decision 2011/666/CFSP of 10 October 2011 amending Decision 2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Belarus (OJ 2011 L 265, p. 17), in so far as it concerns the applicant, Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1000/2011 of 10 October 2011 implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in respect of Belarus (OJ 2011 L 265, p. 8) in so far as it concerns the applicant, the Council decision of 14 November 2011 rejecting the applicant’s request to have his name removed from Council Decision 2011/69/CFSP of 31 January 2011 amending Council Decision 2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against certain officials of Belarus (OJ 2011 L 28, p. 40) and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 84/2011 of 31 January 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures against President Lukashenko and certain officials of Belarus (OJ 2011 L 28, p. 17), and annulment of Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Belarus (OJ 2012 L 285, p. 1) and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1017/2012 of 6 November 2012 implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in respect of Belarus (OJ 2012 L 307, p. 7), in so far they concern the applicant. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Mr Vadzim Ipatau to bear, in addition to his own costs, the costs incurred by the Council of the European Union. |