Brussels, 15/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 November, the EU Court of Justice set aside the General Court's ruling of 2010 which annulled the inclusion of Stichting Al-Aqsa in the Council's list of persons and entities whose funds have been frozen as part of the fight against terrorism. The Court considered that such measures taken by the Council are consistent with European Union law in the area of combating terrorism. In so doing, the Court distances itself from the conclusions given in June by the advocate general, which called upon it to confirm the General Court's ruling (see EUROPE 10628).
The General Court had annulled the inclusion and the continued inclusion in the list drawn up by the Council of persons and entities whose assets had been frozen for the years 2007 to 2009, for the reason that the Netherlands had repealed the ministerial regulation on sanctions against terrorism (Sanctieregeling) relating to Al-Aqsa, which ultimately formed the basis of the Council's measures (Case T-348/07 - see EUROPE 10212). Al-Aqsa (Case C-539/10P) and the Netherlands (Case 550/10P) appealed against the General Court's judgement, inviting the Court of Justice to examine the conditions under which funds may be frozen.
In its ruling, the Court first of all judges Al-Aqsa's appeal inadmissible in that, as the advocate general had concluded, it seeks only the amendment of certain grounds of the judgement under appeal. On the other hand, as the Netherlands requested, it notes that the General Court committed an error in law by saying that, after repeal of the Dutch “Sanctieregeling”, there was no longer any “substratum” in national law that justified continuing to include Al-Aqsa in the list. The Netherlands had in fact only abided by the TFEU Treaty by repealing a measure that was in duplicate with the regulation (No2580/2001), establishing equivalent measures at European level. On that basis, the Court cancels the General Court's ruling and enacts on the initial Al-Aqsa appeal for annulment of the Council decisions on the freezing of funds.
According to the Court of Justice, by taking that decision, the Council referred to a national decision founded on the existence of precise information and evidence of Al-Aqsa's involvement in terrorist activity. It was thus able to “consider, without committing an error of assessment, that Al-Aqsa had knowledge that its activity of raising funds and making them available contributed to terrorist activities”. Despite the repeal of “Sanctieregeling”, the Council decision was motivated as it did not have evidence that Al-Aqsa suspended or ceased to contribute to the financing of terrorist activities, irrespective of the fact that the freezing of its funds made such contributions more difficult, if not impossible. (FG/transl.jl)