FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: William Julié, Amélie Beauchemin and Camille Gosson, WJ Avocats
4. Delisting Challenges 4.1 Process The delisting process varies depending on the source of the sanction: • for sanctions imposed by the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, the sanctioned person may ask the Ministry to reconsider and, if refused, apply to the French administrative court with a recours pour excès de pouvoir (appeal for abuse of power); • when sanctioned by the Council of the EU, the affected person may challenge the listing before the Council itself, by letter, and/or before the General Court of the CJEU, by an application for annulment; and • when listed on UN sanctions lists, the affected person must apply to the Focal Point for Delisting, except for sanctions on ISIL/Al-Qaeda, where the Ombudsperson is competent. 4.2 Remedies For French sanctions, recours gracieux and recours pour excès de pouvoir (appeal for abuse of power) only target a delisting; the judge cannot grant dam - ages. However, under Article L761-1 of the Adminis - trative Justice Code, the applicant can ask the court to order the administration to pay sums beyond pro - ceedings costs – a remedy resembling damages. At EU level, if the delisting is obtained before the Council of the EU, the name of the person is taken off the list. Even if the court annuls an individual’s listing, it will remain in place until the Council takes it off. Once taken off the sanctions list, the person can ask the court for damages under Article 340 (2) of the Trea - ty on the Functioning of the European Union, which provides for the right of individuals or legal persons to obtain compensation for damages occurring by the non-contractual liability of EU institutions. At the time of writing, only one entity has obtained damages in the context of sanctions before the CJEU: in 2014, the Iranian company Safa Nicu Sepahan obtained EUR50,000 for non-material damage to its reputation (Judgment of 25 November 2014, Safa Nicu Sepahan Co . v Council , T-384/11, EU:T:2014:986).
4.3 Timing At French level, a person seeking delisting must first ask the Ministry of Economy and Finance to recon - sider ( recours gracieux ). They have two months from notification to do so. The administration then has two months to reply. If refused (or if no response is received), the person may bring a recours pour excès de pouvoir (appeal for abuse of power). The deadline is two months in France, three months in overseas territories, or four months abroad. At the EU level, to oppose their listing before the court, a sanctioned person has two months from the publica - tion or personal notification of the decision to include their name on the lists. There is no time limit for a ruling on an annulment action. Concerning the administrative procedure before the Council, which relists periodically (eg, every six months under the Russian regime and every year under the Belarus regime) there is no time limit to request reconsideration of its decision to target the person with restrictive measures. Delistings cur - rently take around two years before both. There are no time limits in the Council’s administrative procedure; it relists periodically – every six months under the Russian regime and every year under the Belarus regime. Before the court, there is no time limit for a ruling on an annulment action; delistings cur - rently take around two years before both. 5. Trade and Export Restrictions 5.1 Services Economic sanctions against Russia include a ban on providing to – and buying from – Russia or Russian persons several services, including crypto-asset wal - lets, engineering, IT consultancy and legal advisory, brokering and trade secrets, as provided by Decision 2014/512/CFSP and Regulation 833/2014. 5.2 Goods Under Decision 2014/512/CFSP and Regulation 833/2014, several goods are prohibited from being imported from or exported to Russia, such as oil and coal, liquefied propane, dual-use goods and technol -
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