EU court upholds Iran sanctions on another NIOC subsidiary

The General Court has rejected another annulment application by a NIOC subsidiary in Joined Cases T-159/13 and T-372/14 HK Intertrade Co Ltd v Council (26 November 2015). A link to the judgment is here.  The Court held that the 3rd of 4 reasons given for the applicant’s listing was sufficient to justify its inclusion in the EU’s Iran sanctions, namely being a “front company controlled by EU-designated NIOC” – the applicant did not dispute that it was owned by NIOC. This is line with previous NIOC subsidiary cases (see e.g. previous blog).  The Court also said that the Council’s errors in stating the applicant’s name and in providing access to file were insufficient to annul its designation.