BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Valerijus Ostrovskis, Coline Cauvin, Delphine Buyle and Yapa Thepkanjana, ACQUIS
CJEU. The claim must demonstrate that the wrongful listing caused financial loss or other harm and estab - lish a causal link between the listing and the damages. If the court finds in favour of the applicant, it awards damages to compensate for the financial and non- material harm suffered. If the court rejects the claim, no compensation is awarded. 4.2 Remedies In the context of EU law, which is relevant for Belgian law, a de-listing challenge can achieve several signifi - cant outcomes. First, an individual or entity may be delisted by the Council. This occurs when the Council reviews evi - dence and decides to remove the individual or entity from the list, finding that the original reasons for listing are no longer valid or were incorrect. Second, the EU’s General Court can annul the listing, if an individual or entity brings an action before the General Court, and the latter finds it unlawful. Annul - ment of a listing decision does not, however, auto - matically result in delisting. The Council retains the power to relist but may only do so on new grounds or new evidence. This was confirmed in the landmark case, Tokareva v Council (Case T-693/25); the General Court found, for the first time, that the Council had violated Article 266 TFEU – which requires the Council to take necessary measures to comply with the judg - ment annulling the listing – by relisting Ms Tokareva on the same grounds as the earlier annulled measures and without adducing new evidence capable of sup - porting the relisting. Lastly, an individual may file an action for damages to the EU’s General Court. If the General Court deter - mines that the listing was unlawful and caused harm, it can award damages to compensate for the financial loss and other harm suffered due to the wrongful list - ing. Such damages have rarely been awarded, owing to the difficulty of meeting the legal tests for damages suffered and causality. 4.3 Timing In the EU legal system, which is relevant for Belgium, the minimum period in which delisting can occur is six to 12 months from the date of initial listing – some -
thing that is relevant for sanctions against Russia and Belarus. This may extend to several years in cases where the individual’s/entity’s listing is renewed at regular reviews and/or is challenged in the EU’s Gen - eral Court. 5. Trade and Export Restrictions 5.1 Services Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 imposes sev - eral service-related bans aimed at restricting trade and economic interactions with Russia. These bans, alongside legal and other professional services pro - hibitions, include the following. • Technical assistance and brokering services: there is a prohibition on the provision of technical assis - tance, brokering services, or other services related to goods and technology covered by export bans. This includes, among others, services associated with the use of dual-use goods and technologies that might contribute to Russia’s military or techno - logical enhancement. • Financial services: there is a ban on providing financial assistance for trade involving prohibited goods and technologies. This extends to credit-rat - ing services and other financial activities that could support Russian sanctioned sectors. • Professional, business and industrial software services: the provision of a range of professional services to the Russian government and entities established in Russia, including accounting, audit - ing, tax consulting, legal advisory, architectural, engineering, IT consultancy, advertising and mar - ket-research services, is prohibited. Restrictions also apply to enterprise-management software and industrial-design and manufacturing software. The 18th package added software management systems and software for specified banking and financial-sector uses, while the 20th package added a prohibition on the provision of managed security services. • Transport and logistics services: the regulation bans services related to the transportation of goods covered by the sanctions. This includes restrictions on Russian transport undertakings
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