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Language of document : ECLI:EU:T:2013:401

Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 6 September 2013 —
Iran Insurance v Council

(Case T‑12/11)

Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Iran with the aim of preventing nuclear proliferation — Freezing of funds — Legal basis — Infringement of international law — Obligation to state reasons — Rights of the defence — Right to effective judicial protection — Manifest error of assessment — Right to property — Proportionality — Equal treatment — Non-discrimination

1. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Concept — Measures producing binding legal effects — Purely informative act not adversely affecting the applicant in an autonomous manner in relation to acts producing legal effects in his regard — No need to adjudicate (Art. 263 TFEU) (see para. 44)

2. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Concept — Measures producing binding legal effects — Hypothetical acts not yet adopted — Not included (Art. 263 TFEU) (see paras 46, 47)

3. EU law — Fundamental rights — Scope ratione personae — Legal persons constituting emanations of non-member States — Included — Responsibility of the non-member State for compliance with fundamental rights in its own territory — Irrelevant (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union) (see paras 57, 61, 62)

4. EU law — Principles — Rights of defence — Scope — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Limitations imposed by an annulled judgment of the General Court — Disappearance of those limitations from the legal order of the EU — Admissibility of review of compliance with those rights by the EU judicature not taking account of those limitations (Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Art. 24(3) and (4); Council Regulations No 961/2010, Art. 36(3) and (4), and No 267/2012, Art. 46(3) and (4)) (see paras 66, 67)

5. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Obligation to communicate the reasoning to the person concerned at the same time as the measure adversely affecting him or immediately thereafter — Correction of an error of reasoning during the proceedings before the Court — Not permissible (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Art. 24(3); Council Decision No 961/2010, Art. 36(3), and No 267/2012, Art. 46(3)) (see paras 70, 71, 73)

6. EU law — Principles — Rights of defence — Right to effective judicial protection — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Obligation to disclose individual and specific grounds for the decisions adopted — Scope (Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Art. 24(3); Council Regulations No 961/2010, Art. 36(3), and No 267/2012, Art. 46(3)) (see paras 72-74)

7. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Decision falling within a context known to the person concerned, enabling him to understand the scope of the measure taken in his regard — Admissibility of a summary statement of reasons (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Art. 24(3); Council Regulations No 961/2010, Art. 36(3), and No 267/2012, Art. 46(3)) (see paras 75, 76)

8. EU law — Interpretation — Texts in several languages — Uniform interpretation — Consideration of different language versions (see para. 81)

9. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Alternative criteria fixed by EU measures for the inclusion of an entity in the lists of persons and entities concerned by the restrictive measures — Sufficiency of reasoning based on only one of those criteria or only some of them (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Art. 20(1)(b); Council Regulations No 961/2010, Art. 16(2), and No 267/2012, Art. 23(2)) (see paras 84-89)

10. EU law — Principles — Rights of defence — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Right of access to documents — Right to be heard — Rights subject to an application in that behalf before the Council — No infringement (Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Art. 24(3); Council Regulations No 961/2010, Art. 36(3), and No 267/2012, Art. 46(3)) (see paras 90-93, 96, 103, 106, 107)

11. EU law — Principles — Right to effective judicial protection — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Obligation to communicate incriminating evidence with a view to placing the person concerned in a position usefully to refer the matter to the EU judicature and enabling the latter to review the legality of the act in question — No infringement (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP; Council Regulations No 961/2010 and No 267/2012) (see paras 108, 109, 111, 112)

12. European Union — Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Judicial review of the legality — Scope — Burden of proof — Obligation to submit concrete evidence and information — Decision based on information supplied by Member States and not communicable to the EU judicature — Inadmissibility (Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Art. 20(1)(b); Council Regulations No 961/2010, Art. 16(2)(a), and No 267/2012, Art. 23(2)(a)) (see paras 116, 124-126, 128, 130)

13. Actions for annulment — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Limitation by the Court — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies engaged in or supporting nuclear proliferation — Annulment at two different times of two acts containing identical restrictive measures — Risk of legal certainty being seriously affected — Maintenance of the effects of the first of those acts until the taking effect of annulment of the second (Art. 264, second para., TFEU; Council Regulation No 267/2012, Annex IX; Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, Annex II) (see paras 133, 134, 136)

Re:

APPLICATION, first, for annulment (i) of Annex II to Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP of 26 July 2010 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Common Position 2007/140/CFSP (OJ 2010 L 195, p. 39), as amended by Council Decision 2010/644/CFSP of 25 October 2010 (OJ 2010 L 281, p. 81), and of Annex VIII to Council Regulation (EU) No 961/2010 of 25 October 2010 on restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EC) No 423/2007 (OJ 2010 L 281, p. 1), in so far as they concern the applicant; (ii) of the decision in respect of the applicant ‘contained in’ a letter dated 28 October 2010; (iii) of Council Decision 2011/783/CFSP of 1 December 2011 amending Decision 2010/413 (OJ 2011 L 319, p. 71) and of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1245/2011 of 1 December 2011 implementing Regulation No 961/2010 (OJ 2011 L 319, p. 11), in so far as they may affect the applicant’s situation; (iv) of the decision in respect of the applicant ‘contained in’ a letter dated 5 December 2011; (v) of Annex IX to Council Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 of 23 March 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation No 961/2010 (OJ 2012 L 88, p. 1), in so far as it concerns the applicant; and (vi) of any future regulation or decision of the Council or of the Commission which would supplement or amend any of the measures contested in the present action; and, secondly, for a declaration that the following are inapplicable to the applicant: Articles 12 and 20(1)(b) of Decision 2010/413; Articles 16(2) and 26 of Regulation No 961/2010; Article 1(7) of Council Decision 2012/35/CFSP of 23 January 2012 amending Decision 2010/413 (OJ 2012 L 19, p. 22); Articles 23(2) and 35 of Regulation No 267/2012; Article 1(8) of Council Decision 2012/635/CFSP of 15 October 2012 amending Decision 2010/413 (OJ 2012 L 282, p. 58); Article 1(11) of Council Regulation (EU) No 1263/2012 of 21 December 2012 amending Regulation No 267/2012 (OJ 2012 L 356, p. 34); and Article 1(2) of Council Decision 2012/829/CFSP of 21 December 2012 amending Decision 2010/413 (OJ 2012 L 356, p. 71).

Operative part

The Court:

Declares the action inadmissible, in so far as it seeks the annulment of any future regulation or decision of the Council of the European Union or of the European Commission which would supplement or amend any of the measures contested in the present action;

Declares that there is no need to adjudicate on the claim for annulment of the decisions in respect of Iran Insurance Company ‘contained in’ the letters from the Council dated 28 October 2010 and 5 December 2011, or on the plea of inadmissibility raised by the Council, supported by the Commission, solely in respect of the claim for annulment of the decision regarding Iran Insurance Company ‘contained in’ the letter from the Council dated 28 October 2010;

Annuls, in so far as they concern Iran Insurance Company, Annex II to Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP of 26 July 2010 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Common Position 2007/140/CFSP, as amended by Council Decision 2010/644/CFSP of 25 October 2010; Annex VIII to Council Regulation (EU) No 961/2010 of 25 October 2010 on restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EC) No 423/2007; Council Decision 2011/783/CFSP of 1 December 2011 amending Decision 2010/413; Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1245/2011 of 1 December 2011 implementing Regulation No 961/2010; and Annex IX to Council Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 of 23 March 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation No 961/2010;

Orders the effects of Annex II to Decision 2010/413, as amended by Decision 2010/644 and subsequently by Decision 2011/783, to be maintained as regards Iran Insurance Company until the annulment of Annex IX to Regulation No 267/2012 takes effect, in so far as Annex IX concerns Iran Insurance Company;

Orders the Council to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Iran Insurance Company;

Orders the Commission to bear its own costs.