Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Public international law – United Nations Charter – Obligations thereunder – Binding on the Community

2. Acts of the institutions – Choice of legal basis

(Arts 60 EC, 301 EC and 308 EC; Council Regulation No 872/2004; Commission Regulations Nos 1149/2004 and 874/2005)

3. EC Treaty – Systems of property ownership – Principle of neutrality – Limits

(Arts 60 EC, 83 EC, 133 EC, 295 EC and 301 EC)

4. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons

(Art. 253 EC; Council Regulation No 872/2004)

5. Public international law – Principle of territoriality – Community act providing for restrictive measures in respect of a third country – No extraterritorial effect

(Arts 60 EC and 301 EC; Council Regulation No 872/2004; Commission Regulations Nos 1149/2004 and 874/2005)

Summary

1. In so far as under the EC Treaty the Community has assumed powers previously exercised by the Member States in the area governed by the Charter of the United Nations, the provisions of that Charter have the effect of binding the Community, and the latter is bound, by the very Treaty by which it was established, to adopt, in the exercise of its powers, all the measures necessary to enable its Member States to fulfil their obligations under that Charter.

(see para. 67)

2. The Community is competent to adopt restrictive measures directly affecting individuals on the basis of Articles 60 EC and 301 EC, where a common position or a joint action adopted under the provisions of the EU Treaty relating to the Common foreign and security policy so provides, provided that those measures actually seek to interrupt or reduce, in part or completely, economic relations with one or more third countries. On the other hand, restrictive measures having no link with the territory or rulers of a third country cannot be based on those provisions alone. However, the Community does have the power to adopt such measures on the basis of Articles 60 EC, 301 EC and 308 EC.

In that regard, the Community was competent to adopt, on the basis of Articles 60 EC and 301 EC alone, Regulation No 872/2004 concerning further restrictive measures in relation to Liberia, and Regulations Nos 1149/2004 and 874/2005 amending the first regulation, which implement in the Community restrictive measures against the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, and his associates, as provided for by Common Position 2004/487. To the extent that the United Nations Security Council, the body to which the international community has entrusted the principal role of maintaining international peace and security, considers that that former president and his associates continue to be able to undermine peace in Liberia and in neighbouring countries, the restrictive measures adopted against them have a sufficient link with the territory or the rulers of that country to be regarded as seeking to interrupt or to reduce, in part or completely, economic relations with a third country for the purposes of Articles 60 EC and 301 EC.

(see paras 68-69, 74)

3. Notwithstanding Article 295 EC, under which the system of property ownership falls within the sphere of each Member State, other provisions of the Treaty empower the Community to adopt sanctions or preventative measures having an effect on the right of individuals to property. That is the case, in particular, in the fields of competition (Article 83 EC) and of commercial policy (Article 133 EC). That is also the case in respect of measures to interrupt or to reduce, in part or completely, economic relations with a third country taken pursuant to Articles 60 EC and 301 EC.

(see para. 77)

4. If one recital of a contested measure contains a factually incorrect statement, that procedural defect cannot lead to the annulment of that measure if the other recitals in themselves supply a sufficient statement of reasons.

(see para. 81)

5. Regulation No 872/2004 concerning further restrictive measures in relation to Liberia, and Regulations Nos 1149/2004 and 874/2005 amending the first regulation, apply only to funds and economic resources located in the territory of the Community and do not, therefore, have any extraterritorial effect. Accordingly, those regulations do not infringe the principle of territoriality. The fact that the conduct which gave rise to the adoption of the contested regulations produces its effects exclusively outside the Community is irrelevant in that respect, since the measures adopted under Articles 60 EC and 301 EC, such as those regulations, are aimed precisely at the implementation, by the Community, of common positions or common action adopted under the provisions of the EU Treaty relating to the Common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and providing for action in relation to third countries. Moreover, under Article 11(1) EU, one of the objectives of the CFSP is to preserve peace and strengthen international security, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Such an objective could quite clearly not be attained if the Community were to limit its action to cases in which the situation giving rise to its intervention produces effects on its territory.

The same applies in respect of the fact that the regulations in question seek ultimately to produce their effects in the territory of Liberia, since Articles 60 EC and 301 EC precisely empower the Community to adopt measures involving economic sanctions intended to produce their effects in third countries.

(see paras 106-108)