Action brought on 14 March 2011 - SIR v Council

(Case T-142/11)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Société ivoirienne de raffinage (SIR) (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) (represented by: M. Ceccaldi, lawyer)

Defendant: Council of the European Union

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

annul Council Decision 2011/18/CFSP and Council Regulation (EU) 25/2011 of 14 January 2011 imposing restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities and in particular as regards the SIR;

order the Council to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant puts forward five pleas in law.

1.    First plea in law alleging infringement of the Charter of the United Nations, and of Articles 3(5) and (6) and 21(1) TEU and 7 TFEU, in so far as the defendant has exceeded its powers in imposing restrictive measures, the name of the applicant not being among the persons covered by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1572 (2004).

2.    Second plea in law alleging infringement of the principle of non-interference in a State's internal affairs, the defendant going against the sovereign decision of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire which declared elected president L. Gbagbo and not A. Ouattara.

3.    Third plea in law alleging the substantive unlawfulness of the contested measures which cannot be linked to a competence and/or to a power of the defendant.

4.    Fourth plea in law alleging infringement of the rights of the defence, in so far as the applicant could not have been apprised of the evidence against him and could not therefore have duly put forward his point of view in that regard.

5.    Fifth plea in law alleging infringement of the principle of proportionality, the consequences of the measures taken both for the applicant and for the population of Côte d'Ivoire being excessive in relation to the objective being pursued.

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