Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 2 April 2014 — Ben Ali v Council

(Case T‑133/12)

Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures taken against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia — Freezing of funds — Legal basis — Right to property — Article 17(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights — Temporal adjustment of the effects of annulment — Non-contractual liability — Absence of material harm

1.                     Acts of the institutions — Choice of legal basis — Restrictive measures against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia — Freezing of funds of persons involved in the misappropriation of public funds and of natural or legal persons, bodies or organisations associated with them — Article 29 TEU — Admissibility (Arts 21(2)(b) and (d) TEU, 24(1) TEU, 25(b) TEU, 28 TEU and 29 TEU; Council Decision 2011/72, Art. 1(1)) (see paras 46-51)

2.                     Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Restrictive measures against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia — Freezing of funds of persons involved in the misappropriation of public funds and of natural or legal persons, bodies or organisations associated with them — Decision falling within a context known to the person concerned, enabling him to understand the scope of the measure taken in his regard — Statement of reasons not capable of consisting of a general and stereotyped formulation — Reference to factual and legal considerations justifying the contested measure — Reference to the nature of the abuse with which the Tunisian authorities charge the person concerned — No infringement of the duty to state reasons (Art. 296 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(2)(c); Council Decisions 2011/72, 2011/79 and 2012/50) (see paras 55-57, 59-62)

3.                     Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia — Freezing of funds of persons involved in the misappropriation of public funds and of natural or legal persons, bodies or organisations associated with them — Freezing of funds for money laundering imposed by an implementing decision — Overlapping of the concepts of misappropriation of public funds and money laundering — None — Presumption of a necessary relationship between acts of money laundering committed by members of the family of the country’s leaders with misappropriations of public funds — None — Annulment (Council Decisions 2011/72, Art. 1(1), 2011/79 and 2012/50) (see paras 69-74)

4.                     Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia — Freezing of funds of persons involved in the misappropriation of public funds and of natural or legal persons, bodies or organisations associated with them — Restriction of the right to property — Conditions — Implementing decision not complying with the conditions laid down in the basic decision — Infringement of the right to property (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Arts 17(1), and 52(1); Council Decisions 2011/72, Art. 1, 2011/79 and 2012/50) (see paras 76, 80)

5.                     Actions for annulment — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Limitation by the Court — Restrictive measures against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia — Freezing of funds of persons involved in the misappropriation of public funds and of natural or legal persons, bodies or organisations associated with them — Risk of serious and irreversible undermining being caused to the effectiveness of any asset-freezing likely to be, in future, decided by the Council against the persons concerned by the annulled measure — Maintenance of the effects of the annulled decision until the expiry of the period for bringing an appeal or dismissal of the appeal (Art. 264, second para., TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 60, second para; Council Decisions 2011/72, 2011/79, 2012/50 and 2013/72) (see paras 83, 87-89)

6.                     Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Real and certain damage caused by an illegal measure — Burden of proof (Art. 340, second para., TFEU) (see para. 91)

Re:

APPLICATION for (i) annulment of Council Decision 2012/50/CFSP of 27 January 2012 amending Decision 2011/72/CFSP concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia (OJ 2012 L 27, p. 11), in so far as that decision concerns the applicant, and (ii) damages.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the annex to Council Decision 2011/72/CFSP of 31 January 2011 concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia, as amended by Council Implementing Decision 2011/79/CFSP of 4 February 2011 implementing Decision 2011/72, in so far as that annex has been extended by Council Decision 2012/50/CFSP of 27 January 2012, amending Decision 2011/72, and in so far as it includes the name of Mr Mehdi Ben Tijani Ben Haj Hamda Ben Haj Hassen Ben Ali;

2. Declares that the effects of the annex to Decision 2011/72, as amended by Implementing Decision 2011/79 and extended by Decision 2012/50, with respect to Mr Ben Tijani Ben Haj Hamda Ben Haj Hassen Ben Ali shall be maintained until the expiry of the period for bringing an appeal against the present judgment or, if an appeal is lodged during that period, until such time as that appeal is dismissed;

3. Dismisses the remainder of the action;

4. Orders the Council of the European Union to bear, in addition to its own costs, the costs incurred by Mr Ben Tijani Ben Haj Hamda Ben Haj Hassen Ben Ali;

5. Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs.