Judgment of the General Court of 6 October 2021 – Ukrselhosprom PCF and Versobank v ECB
(Joined Cases T-351/18 and T-584/18) 1
(Economic and monetary policy – Prudential supervision of credit institutions – Specific supervisory tasks assigned to the ECB – Decision to withdraw a credit institution’s authorisation – Breach of legislation on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism – Admissibility – Powers of the national competent authorities (NCAs) of participating Member States and of the ECB under the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) – Equal treatment – Proportionality – Protection of legitimate expectations – Legal certainty – Misuse of powers – Rights of the defence – Obligation to state reasons)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Ukrselhosprom PCF LLC (Solone, Ukraine), Versobank AS (Tallinn, Estonia) (represented by: O. Behrends, lawyer)
Defendant: European Central Bank (represented by: C. Hernández Saseta and G. Marafioti, acting as Agents, and by B. Schneider, lawyer)
Intervener in support of the defendant: European Commission (represented by: A. Steiblytė, D. Triantafyllou and A. Nijenhuis, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application under Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment, first, of decision ECB_SSM_2018_EE_1 WHD_2017 0012 of the ECB of 26 March 2018, secondly, of decision ECB_SSM_2018_EE_2 WHD_2017 0012 of 17 July 2018, replacing decision ECB_SSM_2018_EE_1 WHD_2017 0012, by which the ECB withdrew Versobank’s authorisation to operate as a credit institution, and, thirdly, of decision ECB/SSM/2018 EE 3 of 14 August 2018 on the costs relating to the review procedure.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Orders that Cases T-351/18 and T-584/18 be joined for the purposes of the judgment;
Declares that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the action in Case T-351/18;
Dismisses the action in Case T-584/18;
Orders Ukrselhosprom PCF LLC, Versobank AS, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission each to bear their own costs in Case T-351/18;
Orders Ukrselhosprom PCF and Versobank, in Case T-584/18, to bear their own costs and to pay those of the ECB;
Orders the Commission to bear its own costs in Case T-584/18.
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1 OJ C 294, 20.8.2018.