Judgment of the General Court of 25 November 2014 — Safa Nicu Sepahan v Council
(Case T-384/11) 1
(Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Iran to prevent nuclear proliferation — Freezing of funds — Error of assessment — Right to effective judicial protection — Claim for damages)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Safa Nicu Sepahan Co. (Ispahan, Iran) (represented by: A. Bahrami, lawyer)
Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented: initially by A. Vitro and R. Liudvinaviciute-Cordeiro, and subsequently by R. Liudvinaviciute-Cordeiro and I. Gurov, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application for (i) annulment in part of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 503/2011 of 23 May 2011 implementing Regulation (EU) No 961/2010 on restrictive measures against Iran (OJ 2011 L 136, p. 26) and Council Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 of 23 March 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EU) No 961/2010 (OJ 2012 L 88, p. 1), and (ii) compensation for damage.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
1. Annuls, in so far as they concern Safa Nicu Sepahan Co.:
point 19 of Part I.B of Annex I to Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 503/2011 of 23 May 2011 implementing Regulation (EU) No 961/2010 on restrictive measures against Iran;
point 61 of Part I.B of 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;
2. Orders the Council of the European Union to pay Safa Nicu Sepahan compensation of EUR 50 000 in respect of the non-material damage sustained by the latter;
3. Orders that the compensation to be paid to Safa Nicu Sepahan be paid with default interest, as from the delivery of the present judgment to full payment of that compensation, at the rate set by the European Central Bank for main refinancing operations, increased by two percentage points;
4. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
5. Orders the Council to bear its own costs relating to the main proceedings and to the proceedings for interim relief and to pay half the costs incurred by Safa Nicu Sepahan in both those proceedings; orders Safa Nicu Sepahan to bear half the costs it has incurred in the main proceedings and in the proceedings for interim relief.
________________________1 OJ C 282, 24.9.2011.