Case T-635/22: Judgment of the General Court of 11 September 2024 – Fridman and Others v Council (Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine – Freezing of funds – List of persons, entities and bodies subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources – Inclusion of the applicants’ names on the list – Obligation to report funds or economic resources belonging to or owned, held or controlled by the applicants – Obligation to cooperate with the competent national authority – Participation in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent restrictive measures – Article 9(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 – Action for annulment – Locus standi – Direct concern – Regulatory act not entailing implementing measures – Interest in bringing proceedings – Admissibility – Power of the Council – Proportionality)
Date: 2024-09-11
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: EU restrictive measure, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian issue, Ukraine, economic sanctions, freezing of assets, international sanctions, natural person, principle of proportionality, right of action








C_202406431EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/6431


4.11.2024






Judgment of the General Court of 11 September 2024 – Fridman and Others v Council


(Case T-635/22)
                (1)

(Common foreign and security policy - Restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine - Freezing of funds - List of persons, entities and bodies subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources - Inclusion of the applicants’ names on the list - Obligation to report funds or economic resources belonging to or owned, held or controlled by the applicants - Obligation to cooperate with the competent national authority - Participation in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent restrictive measures - Article 9(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 - Action for annulment - Locus standi - Direct concern - Regulatory act not entailing implementing measures - Interest in bringing proceedings - Admissibility - Power of the Council - Proportionality)
(C/2024/6431)
Language of the case: French

Parties


Applicants: Mikhail Fridman (London, United Kingdom), Petr Aven (Virginia Water, United Kingdom), German Khan (London) (represented by: T. Marembert and A. Bass, lawyers)

Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: S. Van Overmeire and J. Rurarz, acting as Agents, and by B. Maingain, lawyer)

Interveners in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Belgium (represented by: C. Pochet, M. Van Regemorter and L. Van den Broeck, acting as Agents), Republic of Latvia (represented by: K. Pommere and J. Davidoviča, acting as Agents), European Commission (represented by: H. Krämer, C. Giolito, M. Carpus Carcea and L. Puccio, acting as Agents)

Re:

By their action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicants seek the annulment of Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1273 of 21 July 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine (OJ 2022 L 194, p. 1), in so far as it concerns them, and refer more specifically to Article 1, point 4, of the contested regulation in so far as it amends Article 9 of Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 of 17 March 2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine (OJ 2014 L 78, p. 6) by inserting obligations to report funds and to cooperate with the competent authorities in that regard (Article 9(2) of Regulation No 269/2014, as amended) and by treating a failure to comply with those obligations as a circumvention of fund-freezing measures (Article 9(3) of Regulation No 269/2014, as amended).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the action;










2.


Orders Mr Mikhail Fridman, Mr Petr Aven and Mr German Khan to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the Council of the European Union;










3.


Orders the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Latvia and the European Commission to bear their own costs.






(1)  
            OJ C 451, 28.11.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/6431/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)