Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 28 May 2013 — Chiboub v Council

(Case T‑188/11)

Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities in view of the situation in Tunisia — Freezing of funds — No legal basis

1.                     Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Restrictive measures against certain persons and bodies 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 — Admissibility of a summary statement of reasons — Limits — Statement of reasons not capable of consisting of a general and stereotyped formulation (Art. 296 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(2)(c); Council Decision 2011/79) (see paras 38-44)

2.                     Judicial proceedings — Obligation on the court to respect the framework of the dispute defined by the parties — No obligation on the court to rule solely on the basis of the arguments raised by the parties (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 48(2)) (see paras 47, 48)

3.                     European Union — Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against certain persons and bodies 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 — No overlapping of the concepts of misappropriation of public funds and money laundering — No 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 — Annulment (Council Decisions 2011/72, Art. 1(1), and 2011/79) (see paras 52-57, 68-71, 73, 75, 87)

4.                     European Union — Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions — Restrictive measures against certain persons and bodies 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 — Assessment of legality by reference to the information available at the time of adoption of the decision (Council Decision 2011/72) (see para. 85)

5.                     Actions for annulment — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Limitation by the Court — Restrictive measures against certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Tunisia — Annulment at two different times of two acts containing identical restrictive measures — Risk of serious undermining of legal certainty — Maintenance of the effects of the first of those acts until the taking effect of annulment of the second (Art. 264 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 60; Council Regulation No 101/2011; Council Decision 2011/72) (see paras 92-95)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment, first, of 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 (OJ 2011 L 28, p. 62); secondly, of Council Implementing Decision 2011/79/CFSP of 4 February 2011 implementing Decision 2011/72 (OJ 2011 L 31, p. 40); and, thirdly, of Council Regulation (EU) No 101/2011 of 4 February 2011 concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons, entities and bodies in view of the situation in Tunisia (OJ 2011 L 31, p. 1), in so far as those measures apply to the applicant.

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 it applies to Mr Mohamed Slim Ben Mohamed Hassen Ben Salah Chiboub;

2. Annuls Council Regulation (EU) No 101/2011 of 4 February 2011 concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons, entities and bodies in view of the situation in Tunisia in so far as it applies to Mr Chiboub;

3. Declares that the effects of the Annex to Decision 2011/72, as amended by Implementing Decision 2011/79, with respect to Mr Chiboub shall be maintained until the annulment of Regulation No 101/2011 takes effect in so far as it applies to Mr Chiboub;

4. Orders the Council of the European Union to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Mr Chiboub;

5. Orders the European Commission and the Republic of Tunisia to bear their own costs.