Sanctions 2026

FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: William Julié, Amélie Beauchemin and Camille Gosson, WJ Avocats

3. Recent and Future Legal Developments 3.1 Significant Court Decisions or Legal Developments In the past three years, the most significant legal and judicial developments in France have arisen from the EU restrictive measures imposed on Russia since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The CJEU has delivered several key judgments in the last few months: • The Court, in its interpretation of the concepts of “leading businessperson”, “influence” and the scope of “economic sectors”, in a Judgment of 26 March 2026, joined cases C-696/23 P Pumpyans- kiy v Council , C-704/23 P Khudaverdyan v Council , C-711/23 P Rashnikov v Council , C-35/24 P Maz- epin v Council and C-111/24 P Khan v Council . The Court clarified the following. (a) It is not necessarily the leading businessper - son that must provide a substantial source of revenue to the Russian Government, but the “economic sectors” in which they operate. (b) The concept of the “influence” of the busi - nesspersons must be assessed in light of the economic context in which they operate, irre - spective of any link that they may have with the Russian Government. It is because they are of significant importance for the Russian economy that those persons are likely to further, indirect - ly, the financing of destabilising actions against Ukraine, by contributing to maintaining the profitability, or the prosperity, of the economic sectors in which they are involved, even if there is no specific evidence that they have directly influenced the Russian Government. (c) The criterion serving as the basis for the impo - sition of restrictive measures can be consid - ered unlawful only if it is manifestly inappropri - ate. Such a criterion remains lawful provided that it targets categories of persons that have, although indirectly and although independently of any personal conduct, an objective link with the third country against which the Euro - pean Union is seeking to impose sanctions. In the present cases, the Court found that

• the amount/market value of the funds or resources, at the date of reporting and at the date of freezing; and • the types of funds. In its frequently asked questions (FAQs), the Commis - sion explicitly states the objective of such reporting obligations, which is to help ensure that those assets are traced effectively in order to avoid circumvention of sanctions via evasion schemes. The Commission also recalls that non-compliance with such obligations would be treated as a breach of EU sanctions law, with criminal penalties provided by EU member states being applicable. Regarding sectoral sanctions, Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine also provides for some reporting obligations, as follows: • Natural and legal persons, entities and bodies must “inform within two weeks the competent author - ity of the Member State where they are resident, located, established or incorporated, of all transac - tions for the purchase, import or transfer into the Union of natural gas condensates of subheading CN 2709 00 10 from liquefied natural gas produc - tion plants, originating in or exported from Russia. The reporting shall include information on vol - umes”. • “Central securities depositories concerned shall report to the Commission and to their national supervisory authorities, by 30 June of each year, on the total amount of cash balances, revenues and net profits”. • “Legal persons, entities and bodies established in the Union whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 40% by: (a) a legal person, entity or body established in Russia; (b) a Russian national; or (c) a natural person residing in Russia, shall, as of 1 May 2024, report to the com - petent authority of the Member State where they are established, within two weeks of the end of each quarter, any transfer of funds exceeding 100 000 euros out of the Union that they made during that quarter, directly or indirectly, in one or several operations”.

145 CHAMBERS.COM