Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 17 September 2020.PAO Rosneft Oil Company and Others v Council of the European Union.Appeal – Restrictive measures adopted in view of the actions of the Russian Federation destabilising the situation in Ukraine – List of persons, entities and bodies subject to freezing of funds and economic resources – Listing of the appellants in the list of the entities to which restrictive measures apply.Case C-732/18 P.

Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 17 September 2020 – Rosneft and Others v Council

(Case C‑732/18 P) ( 1 )

(Appeal – Restrictive measures adopted in view of the actions of the Russian Federation destabilising the situation in Ukraine – List of persons, entities and bodies subject to freezing of funds and economic resources – Listing of the appellants in the list of the entities to which restrictive measures apply)

1. Judicial proceedings – Res judicata – Scope – Preliminary ruling by the Court on the validity of an EU law measure – Action for annulment putting forward pleas and arguments similar to those relied on in the preliminary ruling proceedings, but not between the same parties – Judgment of the Court not res judicata

(Art. 263 – 267 TFEU)

(see paras 51-56)

2. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Restrictive measures taken having regard to the situation in Ukraine – Export restrictions and restrictions on access to the EU capital markets – Obligation to identify in the statement of reasons the specific and concrete elements justifying the said measure – Decision falling within a context known to the person concerned, enabling him to understand the scope of the measure taken against him – Whether summary statement of reasons sufficient

(Art. 296 TFEU; Council Decision 2014/512/ CFSP, as amended by Decision (CFSP) 2016/2315, Art. 1(2) and Annex III; Council Regulation No 833/2014, as amended by Regulation No 1290/2014, Art. 5(2)(a), (b) and (c) and Annex VI)

(see paras 76-78, 80-83)

3. Appeal – Grounds – Inadequate statement of reasons – Reliance by the General Court on implied reasoning – Whether permissible – Conditions

(Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 36 and 53, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 117)

(see para. 115)

Operative part

1. Dismisses the appeal;

2. Orders Rosneft Oil Company PAO, RN-Shelf-Arctic OOO, RN-Shelf-Far East AO, RN-Exploration OOO and Tagulskoe OOO to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the Council of the European Union;

3. Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs.

( 1 ) OJ C 93 of 11.3.2019.