Acts to Combat the Financing of Terrorism: Common Foreign and Security Policy at the European Court of Justice

Abstract

This article considers the September 2005 judgement from the Court of First Instance involving the measures taken by the European Union (EU) to interdict terrorist financing. The case presented the Court with an opportunity to step outside the designated boundaries of their jurisdiction and intervene in a question of common foreign and security policy. The European Court of Justice was responding to an application to annul Council Regulations that implemented ‘smart sanctions’ against residents of the EU as directed by several United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions. The circumstances and implications of the Regulations and the Judgement are interrogated here as a question of EU relations with the UN and the Security Council. The use of financial sanctions against individuals merely accused of supporting terrorism in this situation permits limited recourse for rebuttal and restitution. Furthermore, the use of evidence that must be kept secret from the accused, for security reasons, is problematic for a jurisdiction governed by the rule of law. This analysis points to a need for further research on the human rights implications that arise from the imposition of financial sanctions upon EU residents.