Judgment;Information — ECLI:EU:T:2021:820
Date: 2021-11-24
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Fourth Chamber
Subject matter: External relations;Common foreign and security policy
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded

summary statement of reasons sufficient (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2015/1836, (CFSP) 2019/87, (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/179, Arts 27(2)(a), 28(2)(a) and Annex I; Council Regulations Nos 36/2012, 2019/85, 2019/798 and 2020/716, Annex II) (see paras 37-42, 48, 51) 2. Common foreign and security policy – Specific restrictive measures against certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Syria – Decision 2013/255/CFSP and Regulation No 36/2012 – Criteria for adopting restrictive measures – Leading businesspersons operating in Syria – Concept (Art. 29 TEU; Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2015/1836, (CFSP) 2019/87, (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/719, Arts 27(2)(a) and 28(2)(a); Council Regulations Nos 36/2012, 2019/85, 2019/798 and 2020/716) (see paras 46, 47, 88) 3. EU law – Principles – Rights of the defence – Right to effective judicial protection – Restrictive measures against Syria – Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies associated with the Syrian regime – Obligation to disclose individual and specific grounds for the decisions adopted – Scope – Notification to the person concerned through publication in the Official Journal – Whether permissible (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Arts 41(2)(a) and 52(1); Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/87; Council Regulation 2019/85) (see paras 56-65) 4. Common foreign and security policy – Specific restrictive measures against Syria – Freezing of funds of persons, entities or bodies associated with the Syrian regime – Rights of the defence – Notification of inculpatory evidence – Subsequent decision maintaining the name of the applicant on the list of persons covered by those measures – No new grounds – No infringement of the right to be heard (Council Decisions (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/719; Council Regulations Nos 2019/798 and 2020/716) (see paras 67-70, 74) 5. European Union – Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions – Restrictive measures against Syria – Scope of the review – Proof that the measure is well founded – Obligation on the competent EU authority to establish, in the event of challenge, that the grounds held against the persons or entities concerned are well founded – Breadth of the discretion of that competent authority – Relevance of evidence produced on the basis of a previous inclusion where there are no amendments to the grounds for inclusion or changes in the applicant’s situation or in the context in Syria (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47; Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2019/87, (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/719, Annex I; Council Regulations Nos 36/2012, 2019/85, 2019/798 and 2020/716, Annex II) (see paras 81-87, 94) 6. European Union – Judicial review of the legality of the acts of the institutions – Restrictive measures against Syria – Scope of the review – Inclusion of the applicant on the list annexed to the contested decision on account of his status as a leading businessperson operating in Syria – Publicly available documents – Probative value (Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2019/87, (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/719, Annex I; Council Regulations Nos 36/2012, 2019/85, 2019/798 and 2020/716, Annex II) (see paras 90, 104, 107, 108, 116) 7. Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures against Syria – Freezing of funds and economic resources – Action for annulment brought by a leading businessperson operating in Syria who is subject to a decision to freeze funds – Allocation of the burden of proof – Decision based on a series of indicators – Probative value – Scope (Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2019/87, (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/719, Annex I; Council Regulations Nos 36/2012, 2019/85, 2019/798 and 2020/716, Annex II) (see paras 117, 118, 121, 128, 131, 133-135, 138-139, 154) 8. Common foreign and security policy – Specific restrictive measures against certain persons and bodies in view of the situation in Syria – Decision 2013/255/CFSP and Regulation No 36/2012 – Presumption of support for the Syrian regime in the case of leading businesspersons operating in Syria – Whether permissible – Conditions – Rebuttable presumption – Evidence to the contrary – None (Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2019/87, (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/719, Annex I; Council Regulations Nos 36/2012, 2019/85, 2019/798 and 2020/716, Annex II) (see paras 144-147, 153, 156) 9. Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures against Syria – Freezing of the funds of and restrictions on the admission of persons, entities or organisations associated with the Syrian regime – Restriction of the right to property and the free exercise of an economic activity – No breach of principle of proportionality (Art. 5(4) TEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Arts 15, 16, and 17; Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP, as amended by Decisions (CFSP) 2015/1836, (CFSP) 2019/87, (CFSP) 2019/806 and (CFSP) 2020/719, Arts 28(6) and (7), 34 and Annex I; Council Regulations No 36/2012, as amended by Regulation No 2015/1828, Art. 62(4), 2019/85, 2019/798 and 2020/716, Annex II) (see paras 166-168, 170-175) Re: Application under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Council Implementing Decision (CFSP) 2019/87 of 21 January 2019 implementing Decision 2013/255/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Syria (OJ 2019 L 18 I, p. 13), of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/85 of 21 January 2019 implementing Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria (OJ 2019 L 18 I, p. 4), of Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/806 of 17 May 2019 amending Decision 2013/255/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Syria (OJ 2019 L 132, p. 36), of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/798 of 17 May 2019 implementing Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria (OJ 2019 L 132, p. 1), of Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/719 of 28 May 2020 amending Decision 2013/255/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Syria (OJ 2020 L 168, p. 66), and of Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/716 of 28 May 2020 implementing Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria (OJ 2020 L 168, p. 1) in so far as those acts concern the applicant. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Mr Samer Foz to pay the costs.