Brussels, 01/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 1 March, the Court of Justice of the EU upheld (case C-440/14 P) the freezing of the assets of the Iranian State oil company, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which was decided upon by the Council of the EU on 16 October 2012 in the framework of international sanctions against the Iranian regime over its nuclear programme and lifted on 16 January 2006, on which date most of the EU sanctions against Iran were revoked. At the time of the Council's decision, NIOC featured on the list of entities whose assets had been frozen as it was an “[Iranian] State-owned and operated entity providing financial resources to the Government of Iran”.
In its judgment, the Court rejects the appeal brought by NIOC against the General Court verdict of 16 July 2014 (T-578/12) upholding the Council's decision for the first time. Amongst other things, it notes that for reasons of the efficiency, coherence and coordination of the sanction measures, the Council was legitimately able to reserve the right to execute asset-freezing measures specifically targeting certain entities, which the NIOC had challenged. It secondly takes the view that the General Court had legitimately interpreted the development of the criterion taken by the Council as its basis to freeze NIOC's assets. Although there was no direct link to the nuclear activities of the regime, NIOC was able to support these by providing the government with resources or material, financial or logistical facilities making it possible for it to pursue its nuclear proliferation activities. (Original version in French by Francesco Gariazzo)