EU Court upholds Mr Ezz’s Egypt sanctions listings

In March 2015, the EU Court of Justice dismissed the appeal brought by Ahmed Ezz and 3 of his spouses (Abla Salama, Khadiga Yassin and Shahinaz al Naggar) against the General Court’s judgment refusing to annul their initial listings on the EU’s Egypt misappropriation sanctions (see previous blog).

The General Court has now dismissed the applicants’ action to annul their 2015, 2016 and 2017 renewed designations – see Ezz and Others v Council T-288/15 (27 September 2018). The Court rejected the submission that the Council had erred in its assessment of the evidence relating to political and judicial developments that had occurred since their original designations in 2011 which sought to establish infringements by the Egyptian authorities of the rule of law and fundamental rights in legal proceedings in Egypt. The applicants are no longer subject to EU sanctions since March 2018 (see previous blog).