Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Communities' Court of Justice

Date: 09/03/2008

Subject: The Court set aside the judgments of the Court of First Instance, in which it concluded that the Community courts had no jurisdiction to review the lawfulness of the regulation adopted by the Community giving effect to resolutions of the Security Council of the United Nations. In exercising that jurisdiction, the Court considered that the regulation infringed the rights of the defence, in particular the right to be heard, the right to effective judicial review and the right to property. The Court therefore annulled the regulation in so far as it freezes Mr Kadi and Al Barakaat’s funds. It must be highlighted that the Court maintained the effects of the regulation for a period of no more than three months running from the judgment, in order to allow the Council to remedy the infringements found. On the basis of this solution there is the idea that annulling the regulation with immediate effect would be capable of seriously and irreversibly prejudicing the effectiveness of the restrictive measures, because in the period before the regulation is replaced, the person and entity concerned might have taken steps to prevent the application of further measures freezing funds. Moreover, the Court noted that it is conceivable that, on the merits of the case, the imposition of those measures on Mr Kadi and Al Barakaat may all the same prove to be justified, but the fundamental rights must be respected.

Parties: Yassin Abdullah Kadi e Al Barakaat International Foundation

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 17 Right to property - Justice - Art. 47 Justice: remedy - Art. 48 Rights of defence

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Notices: Effectiveness of the Charter
The Court, having affirmed that the principle of effective judicial protection is a general principle of Community law stemming from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, and provided for in the ECHR, highlighted that this principle has been reaffirmed by Article 47 of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union.