Judgment of the General Court of 18 September 2015 — Iran Liquefied Natural Gas v Council
(Case T-5/13) 1
(Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Iran with the aim of preventing nuclear proliferation — Freezing of funds — Action for annulment — Infra-State body — Locus standi — Interest in bringing proceedings — Admissibility — Error of assessment — Adjustment of the temporal effects of an annulment)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Iran Liquefied Natural Gas Co. (Tehran, Iran) (represented by: J. Grayston, Solicitor, G. Pandey, P. Gjørtler, D. Rovetta, M. Gambardella and N. Pilkington, lawyers)
Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: M. Bishop and Á. de Elera-San Miguel Hurtado, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application for annulment of Council Decision 2012/635/CFSP of 15 October 2012 amending Decision 2010/413/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Iran (OJ 2012 L 282, p. 58) and also of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 945/2012 of 15 October 2012 implementing Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran (OJ 2012 L 282, p. 16), in so far as those acts concern the applicant.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls Council Decision 2012/635/CFSP of 15 October 2012 amending Decision 2010/413/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Iran, in so far as it listed Iran Liquefied Natural Gas Co. in Annex II to Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP of 26 July 2010 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Common Position 2007/140/CFSP;
Annuls Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 945/2012 of 15 October 2012 implementing Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran, in so far as it listed Iran Liquefied Natural Gas in 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;
Orders the effects of Decision 2012/635 and Implementing Regulation No 945/2012 to be maintained as regards Iran Liquefied Natural Gas until the date of expiry of the period for bringing an appeal stated in the first paragraph of Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union or, if an appeal has been brought within that period, until the dismissal of the appeal;
Orders the Council of the European Union to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Iran Liquefied Natural Gas in the context of the present proceedings and of the proceedings relating to the application for interim measures.
____________1 OJ C 55, 23.2.2013.