Case T‑559/15

Post Bank Iran

v

Council of the European Union

(Non-contractual liability — Common foreign and security policy — Restrictive measures against Iran — Freezing of funds — Inclusion and maintenance of the applicant’s name on the lists of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures — Non-material damage)

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber, Extended Composition), 13 December 2018

Judicial proceedings — Absolute bar to proceeding — To be considered of the Court's own motion (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 129)

Common foreign and security policy — Jurisdiction of the EU judicature — Action for damages seeking compensation for damage allegedly suffered as a result of the applicant’s erroneous inclusion on a list of persons subject to restrictive measures — Precluded — Action for damages seeking compensation for damage allegedly suffered as a result of the implementation of the restrictive measures taken against the applicant — Included (Arts 24(1), second subpara. TEU and 40 TEU; Arts 215 TFEU, 263, fourth para. TFEU and 275 TFEU; Council Decisions 2010/644/CFSP and 2011/783/CFSP; Council Regulations No 961/2010, No 1245/2011 and No 267/2012)

Judicial proceedings — Intervention — Objection of inadmissibility not raised by the defendant — Inadmissibility — Plea alleging that the action is time-barred — Not a matter of public policy (Art. 340 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 40, fourth para. and 53, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 142(1) and (3))

Judicial proceedings — Production of evidence — Time limit — Late submission of evidence and offers of evidence — Conditions — Evidence produced in the course of the proceedings for the sole purpose of establishing the fact and extent of the damage quantified in the application — Inadmissibility (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 85)

Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Unlawfulness — Damage — Causal link — Cumulative conditions — One of the conditions not satisfied — Claim for compensation dismissed in its entirety (Art. 340, second para. TFEU)

Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Rules of evidence — Annulment of one or more acts of the Council at the origin of the harm allegedly suffered by the applicant, including where annulment results from a judgment of the General Court delivered before the action for damages has been brought — Lack of irrefutable evidence

Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Concept — Conditions concerning the adoption of restrictive measures against Iran — Included (Art. 340, second para. TFEU; Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP; Council Regulations No 961/2010 and No 267/2012)

Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Unlawfulness — Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Infringement by the Council of the obligation laid down in case-law to establish that the restrictive measures taken against natural or legal persons are well founded — Included (Art. 340, second para. TFEU)

Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Actual and certain damage — Burden of proof (Art. 340, al. 2, TFEU)

Non-contractual liability — Damage — Damage for which compensation is available — Non-material damage corresponding to damage to the image or to the reputation of a legal person — Included (Arts 268 TFEU and 340, second para. TFEU)