Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 10 September 2020.Hamas v Council of the European Union.Appeal – Common foreign and security policy – Fight against terrorism – Restrictive measures taken against certain persons and entities – Freezing of funds – Common Position 2001/931/CFSP – Article 1(4) and (6) – Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 – Article 2(3) – Retention of an organisation on the list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts – Conditions – Competent authority equivalent to a judicial authority – Sentencing decision – Ongoing risk of involvement in terrorist activities – Factual basis of the decisions to freeze funds – Obligation to state reasons – Right to effective judicial protection.Case C-122/19 P.

Judgment // 10/09/2020 // 2 min read
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Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 10 September 2020 – Hamas v Council

(Case C‑122/19 P) ( 1 )

(Appeal – Common foreign and security policy – Fight against terrorism – Restrictive measures taken against certain persons and entities – Freezing of funds – Common Position 2001/931/CFSP – Article 1 (4) and (6) – Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 – Article 2(3) – Retention of an organisation on the list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts – Conditions – Competent authority equivalent to a judicial authority – Sentencing decision – Ongoing risk of involvement in terrorist activities – Factual basis of the decisions to freeze funds – Obligation to state reasons – Right to effective judicial protection)

  1. Common foreign and security policy – Specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism – Decision to freeze funds – Retention on the basis of a national decision to freeze funds – National decision no longer by itself supporting the conclusion that there is an ongoing risk of involvement in acts of terrorism – Obligation of the Council to take into account more recent facts which demonstrate that that risk is ongoing

(Council Common Position 2001/931, Art. 1(6))

(see paras 37, 38)

  1. Common foreign and security policy – Specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism – Decision to freeze funds – Adoption or maintenance on the basis of a national decision to investigate, prosecute or convict – Competent authority to adopt that national decision – Concept – Non judicial authority – Included

(Council Common Position 2001/931, Art. 1(4))

(see paras 43, 44)

  1. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Decision to freeze funds directed against certain persons and entities suspected of terrorist activities – Minimum requirements

(Art. 296, second para., TFEU; Council Common Position 2001/931, Art. 1(4); C 2011/430/CFSP, 2011/872/CFSP, 2012/333/CFSP, 2012/765/CFSP, 2013/395/CFSP, 2014/72/CFSP and 2014/483/CFSP; Council Regulations No 687/2011, No 1375/2011, No 542/2012, No 1169/2012, No 714/2013, No 125/2014 and No 790/2014)

(see paras 53, 54)

Operative part

The Court:

  1. The appeal is dismissed.

  2. Hamas shall bear its own costs and pay the costs incurred by the Council of the European Union and the European Commission.

( 1 ) OJ C 131, 8.4.2019.

Common foreign and security policy , External relations