Mugabe ally loses EU sanctions compensation case

38      The Court therefore finds that the legal basis for the inclusion of the first three applicants and Breco International on the list of persons referred to in Article 6 of Regulation No 314/2004 was not unlawful.

39      Furthermore, insofar as the applicants’ argument that their conduct does not warrant them being classified as being associated with the Government of Zimbabwe may be interpreted as a submission that they are not associated with that government within the meaning of Article 6 of Regulation No 314/2004, as interpreted in paragraph 34 above, such an argument is essentially the same as the plea alleging errors in the assessment of the facts, which will be examined in paragraphs 65 to 94 below.

 The alleged breach of essential procedural requirements

40      The applicants maintain that the measures by which the names of the first three applicants and that of Breco International were included on the list of persons referred to in Article 6 of Regulation No 314/2004 do not contain concrete, specific reasons such as to enable them to ascertain whether the inclusion of those names is well founded, having regard to the relevant legal requirements, or, therefore, to contest those measures on the ground that they are unlawful. According to the applicants, the statement of reasons for the measures in question should have been provided to them at the time the measures were adopted and failure to do so cannot be remedied once proceedings have been commenced. In any event, evidence substantiating those reasons should have been produced and the applicants given an opportunity to be heard before the first decision to renew the listings was made. They were given no such evidence or opportunity, the correspondence with the Council being limited to procedural questions.

41      By those arguments, the applicants raise two complaints. The first alleges failure to state adequate reasons and the second breach of the rights of the defence on the ground that (i) none of the evidence relied on against them was provided and (ii) it was not possible for them to address their arguments to the Council and the Commission. The alleged breach of the right to be heard also compromised their right to effective judicial protection.

 The alleged failure to state adequate reasons

42      It is settled case-law that the purpose of the obligation to state the reasons for an act adversely affecting a person, which is the corollary of the principle of respect for the rights of the defence, is, first, to provide the person concerned with sufficient information to make it possible to determine whether the act is well founded or whether it is vitiated by an error permitting its validity to be contested before the EU judicature and, second, to enable that judicature to review the lawfulness of the act. The requirements to be satisfied by the statement of reasons depend on the circumstances of each case, in particular the content of the measure in question, the nature of the reasons given and the interest which the addressees of the measure, or other parties to whom it is of direct and individual concern, may have in obtaining explanations. It is not necessary for the statement of reasons to specify all the relevant matters of fact and law, since the question whether the statement of reasons is adequate must be assessed with regard not only to its wording but also to its context and to all the legal rules governing the matter in question. In particular, the reasons given for a decision are sufficient if it was adopted in circumstances known to the party concerned which enable him to understand the scope of the measure adversely affecting him (judgment of 15 November 2012 in Council v Bamba, C‑417/11 P, EU:C:2012:718, paragraphs 49, 53 and 54).

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