ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE SEVENTH CHAMBER OF THE GENERAL COURT
13 January 2014 (*)
(Combating terrorism – Specific restrictive measures against certain persons and entities associated with Al‑Qaida – Freezing of funds and capital required by European Union legislation – Inclusion of the applicants in the list – Legal aid – Assent of the Security Council of the United Nations)
In Case T‑134/11 AJ [I],
Al-Bashir Mohammed Al-Faqih, residing in Birmingham (United Kingdom), represented by E. Grieves, Barrister, and N. Garcia-Lora, Solicitor,
applicant,
v
European Commission, represented initially by E. Paasivirta, S. Boelaert, M. Konstantinidis and T. Scharf, and subsequently by E. Paasivirta, M. Konstantinidis and T. Scharf, acting as Agents,
defendant,
APPLICATION for legal aid,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE SEVENTH CHAMBER OF THE GENERAL COURT
makes the following
Order
1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 3 March 2011, the applicant, Mr Al‑Faqih, together with Mr Abdrabbah, Mr Nasuf and the Sanabel Relief Agency, brought an action for annulment of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1138/2010 of 7 December 2010 amending for the 140th time Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban (OJ 2010 L 322, p. 4) and Commission Regulation (EU) No 1139/2010 of 7 December 2010 amending for the 141st time Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban (OJ 2010 L 322, p. 6).
2 By document lodged at the Court Registry on 14 March 2011, the applicant applied to the Court for legal aid pursuant to Article 94 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court.
3 In support of that application, the applicant claims that he is subject to the financial sanctions regime of the United Nations and that he has no income. He is in receipt of benefit granted directly to his wife, Ms Etitaz Beetallo. In addition, his wife is in receipt of additional income support, child benefit and child tax credit, and also receives housing benefit, which relieves her from paying rent or council tax. Ms Beetallo is subject to a licence from HM Treasury (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) limiting her expenses and those of the applicant. The applicant is the father of four children, whose needs are met exclusively from the benefits received by his wife. He is in receipt of legal aid for proceedings under way in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
4 In addition, the letter of 14 March 2011 indicates that the applicant seeks to be represented by N. Garcia-Lora, Solicitor, who has submitted the application for legal aid.
5 By letter from the Court Registry of 18 April 2011, the Court invited the European Commission to lodge its observations on the applicant’s application for legal aid.
6 In its observations, lodged at the Court Registry on 3 May 2011, the Commission has stated that it does not oppose the grant of legal aid to the applicant and that it leaves to the discretion of the Court the determination whether the evidence produced by the applicant constitutes sufficient proof of his need of assistance. However, it observes that the applicant is already in receipt of legal aid (‘General Licence’) for proceedings under way in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
7 The Commission says nothing on either the form of the legal aid sought, or on the appropriate amount of legal aid to be granted to the applicant.
8 Article 94(1) of the Rules of Procedure indicates that, in order to ensure effective access to justice, legal aid granted for proceedings before this Court is to cover, in whole or in part, the costs involved in legal assistance and representation in proceedings before the Court. The cashier of the Court is to be responsible for those costs.
9 In accordance with Article 94(2) and (3) of the Rules of Procedure, the grant of legal aid is subject to the twofold condition, first, that the applicant should, because of his economic situation, be wholly or partly unable to meet the costs involved in legal assistance and representation before the Court and, second, that his action should not appear to be manifestly inadmissible or manifestly unfounded.
10 By virtue of Article 95(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the application for legal aid must be accompanied by all information and supporting documents making it possible to assess the applicant’s economic situation, such as a certificate issued by the competent national authority attesting to that economic situation.
11 By virtue of Article 96(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the decision on the application for legal aid is to be taken by the President by way of an order which, if refusing legal aid, must state the reasons on which it is based.
12 Nevertheless, for as long as a decision has not been taken on the substance or on suspension of operation of the measures contested in this case, Article 2(2) and (3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 of 27 May 2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban, and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 467/2001 prohibiting the export of certain goods and services to Afghanistan, strengthening the flight ban and extending the freeze of funds and other financial resources in respect of the Taliban of Afghanistan (OJ 2002 L 139, p. 9), adopted pursuant to Resolutions 1267 (1999), 1333 (2000), 1390 (2002), 1526 (2004) and 1617 (2005) of the United Nations Security Council, prohibit the Court, in principle, from paying any sum of money whatsoever to the applicant’s lawyers by way of legal aid, unless it has been duly determined that the applicant has been granted a derogation to that end under Article 2a of Regulation No 881/2002, adopted in accordance with Resolution 1452 (2002) of the United Nations Security Council.
13 The applicant produced, as an annex to his application for legal aid, the derogation in question in the form of a licence issued on 7 January 2011 by the Asset Freezing Unit of HM Treasury, expressly authorising the Court to grant legal aid to the applicant by paying the sums concerned directly into his lawyers’ accounts.
14 In the light of the information and supporting documents produced by the applicant, and there being no objection by the Commission, it must be held that the conditions for the grant of legal aid have been satisfied and that aid should be granted to the applicant.
15 The applicant’s present lawyer, N. Garcia-Lora, is to be designated to represent him in this case, pursuant to the first subparagraph of Article 96(3) of the Rules of Procedure. In accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 96(3) of those rules, the amount granted by way of legal aid will be paid to the lawyer direct by the cashier of the Court.
16 As regards the amount of legal aid to be granted to the applicant, the Seventh Chamber of the Court considers that it follows both from the broad logic and from the wording of Articles 94 and 95 of the Rules of Procedure that the grant of legal aid is as a rule restricted to responsibility for the costs of proceedings incurred either at the same time as, or after, the application for aid is made. In the present case, it is clear that the applicant made his application for legal aid 11 days after he had brought his action for annulment, with the result that there is no apparent negligence or inconsistency in the applicant’s conduct of proceedings. In addition, it should be noted that all the applicants in the present case are represented by N. Garcia-Lora, which necessarily results in an economy of scale in the preparation of cases.
17 Having regard to the foregoing considerations, and taking account of the subject-matter and the nature of the dispute, its legal importance and also the foreseeable difficulties of the case, and the foreseeable amount of work which the litigation involves for the party concerned, the amount to be paid by way of legal aid to the lawyer instructed to represent the applicant must be fixed, in accordance with Article 96(3) of the Rules of Procedure, at EUR 2 000.
On those grounds,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE SEVENTH CHAMBER OF THE GENERAL COURT
hereby orders:
1. Mr Al-Bashir Mohammed Al-Faqih is granted legal aid.
2. Ms N. Garcia-Lora is designated as the lawyer to represent the applicant.
3. A sum of EUR 2 000 shall be paid to the applicant’s lawyer.
Luxembourg, 13 January 2014.
E. Coulon | | M. Van der Woude |