CURIA - Documents

Home > Search form > List of results > Documents

Start printing

Language of document : ECLI:EU:T:2015:747

Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 6 October 2015 —
FC Dynamo-Minsk v Council

(Case T‑275/12)

Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures adopted against Belarus — Freezing of funds — Action for annulment — Period allowed for modifying the form of order sought — Partial inadmissibility — Entity owned or controlled by a person or entity subject to the restrictive measures — Obligation to state reasons — Error of assessment

1. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Concept — Hypothetical measures not yet adopted — Not included (Art. 263 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Art. 44(1)(c)) (see paras 48-51)

2. Judicial proceedings — Decision or regulation replacing the contested measure in the course of proceedings — New factor — Extension of the initial pleadings — Application to amend annulment plea — Time-limit for the submission of such an application — Point from which time starts to run — Date of communication of the new measure to the applicant (Art. 263, sixth para., TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Arts 101 and 102(2); Council Decisions 2012/171/CFSP, 2012/642/CFSP, Art. 6(2), 2013/534/CFSP and 2014/750/CFSP; Council Regulations No 765/2006, Art. 8a(2), No 265/2012, No 1017/2012 and No 1054/2013) (see paras 53, 56, 59-64)

3. Actions for annulment — Natural or legal persons — Measures of direct and individual concern to them — Restrictive measures against Belarus — Regulation carrying out a re-examination of the list of persons, groups or entities covered and complementing that list without repealing it — Action brought by a person appearing on the list but not mentioned in the said regulation — Admissibility (Art. 263, fourth para., TFEU; Council Regulations No 765/2006 and No 1159/2014) (see paras 70-74)

4. Actions for annulment — Grounds — Lack of or inadequate statement of reasons — Separate ground from the one concerning substantive legality (Arts 263 TFEU and 296 TFEU) (see paras 83, 84)

5. 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) (see paras 85-91)

6. Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Belarus — Freezing of funds of certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Belarus — Obligation to extend that measure to entities owned or controlled by such an entity — Conditions — Acts instituting restrictive measures providing for the application of the latter to the said owned or controlled entities — Names of persons and entities holding or controlling the entities concerned having to be validly entered in the list of persons concerned by the restrictive measures (Council Decisions 2012/642/CFSP and 2014/750/CFSP; Council Regulations No 765/2006, No 1014/2012, No 1017/2012 and No 1159/2014) (see paras 94-98, 112-117)

7. European Union — Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions — Restrictive measures against Belarus — Freezing of funds of certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Belarus — Ambit of the review — Obligation on the competent EU authority to establish, in the event of challenge, that the grounds held against the persons or entities concerned well-founded (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47; Decisions 2012/642/CFSP and 2014/750/CFSP; Council Regulations No 1017/2012 and No 1159/2014) (see paras 110, 111)

Re:

APPLICATION for the annulment of Council Implementing Decision 2012/171/CFSP of 23 March 2012 implementing Decision 2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Belarus (OJ 2012 L 87, p. 95), of Council Implementing Decision (EU) No 265/2012 of 23 March 2012, implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in respect of Belarus (OJ 2012 L 87, p. 37), Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012, concerning restrictive measures against Belarus (OJ 2012 L 285, p. 1), 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), Council Decision 2013/534/CFSP of 29 October 2013 amending Decision 2012/642 (OJ 2013 L 288, p. 69), Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1054/2013 of 29 October 2013 implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in respect of Belarus (OJ 2013 L 288, p. 1), Council Decision 2014/750/CFSP of 30 October 2014 amending Council Decision 2012/642 (OJ 2014 L 311, p. 39) and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1159/2014 of 30 October 2014 implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in respect of Belarus (OJ 2014 L 311, p. 2), in so far as those acts apply to the applicant.

Operative part

The Court:

Annuls Council Implementing Decision 2012/171/CFSP of 23 March 2012 implementing Decision 2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Belarus, Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 265/2012 of 23 March 2012 implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in respect of Belarus, Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Belarus, 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, Council Decision 2014/750/CFSP of 30 October 2014 amending Decision 2012/642 and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1159/2014 of 30 October 2014 implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in respect of Belarus in so far as they relate to Football Club ‘Dynamo-Minsk’ ZAO;

Dismisses the action as inadmissible in so far as it seeks annulment of Council Decision 2013/534/CFSP of 29 October 2013 amending Decision 2012/642 and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1054/2013 of 29 October 2013 implementing Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2006;

Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

Orders the Council of the European Union to bear its own costs and to pay the costs of Football Club ‘Dynamo-Minsk’.