FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: William Julié, Amélie Beauchemin, Camille Gosson and Elena Moreno, WJ Avocats
aim solely at removal from the list and do not authorise the judge to grant damages to the applicant. How - ever, pursuant to Article L761-1 of the French Admin - istrative Justice Code, the person concerned can ask the court to condemn the administration to pay them sums in addition to the costs of the proceedings, which resembles damages. At the 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 the French level, a person wishing to obtain their delisting must first request the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs to reconsider its decision to sanction them ( recours gracieux ). The person concerned has two months after having been notified of the sanction to exercise their right. The administration then has two months to reply. If the request is not granted, the person can make a recours pour excès de pouvoir against the administra - tion’s refusal or silence. They then have two months (if they are located in France), three months (if they are in one of the French territories overseas) or four months (if they are abroad, after the refusal of the administra - tion to satisfy their request) to challenge such refusal. At the EU level, to oppose their listing before the court, a sanctioned person has two months from the publication or personal notification of the decision to include their name on the lists. Concerning the admin -
istrative procedure before the Council, there is no time limit to request reconsideration of its decision to target the person with restrictive measures. Regarding time limits, there are none under the admin - istrative procedure of the Council, which relists indi - viduals periodically – every six months under its Rus - sian sanctions regime and every year under the one for Belarus. In proceedings before the court, there is no time limit for a ruling to be issued on the action for annulment, and as of the time of writing, delistings before both the court and the Council have taken around two years. 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 Council Decision 2014/512/CFSP and Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014 concerning restrictive measures, in view of Russia’s actions in destabilising the situation in Ukraine. 5.2 Goods Under Council Decision 2014/512/CFSP and Coun - cil Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014, concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions in destabilising the situation in Ukraine, sev - eral goods are prohibited from being imported from or exported to Russia, such as oil and coal, liquefied propane, dual-use goods and technology for military use, navigational instruments, drone engines, chemi - cals, cement and asphalt, helium, diamonds and gold. 6. Civil Litigation and Arbitration 6.1 Force Majeure Under French law, pursuant to Article 1218 of the French Civil Code, three conditions have to be met for force majeure to be characterised as such and justify the suspension of execution of someone’s contractual obligation:
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