Judicial Control of Targeted Sanctions by the European Court of Justice

Abstract

In the global fight against international terrorism, the Security Council of the United Nations uses targeted sanctions for the prevention of terrorist attacks and the protection of the population. Starting with Resolution 1267 in 1999, an encompassing listing system was established by the Security Council. The listing system bears various problems regarding the human rights of the listed persons, especially since there is no mechanism of judicial review attached to the listing system. Following the implementation of these consolidated lists in the European Union, they were challenged before the European Courts. This article describes the development of targeted sanctions, focusing on the different sanctions regimes in the fight against international terrorism and their specific problems. It analyses the judicial review of the sanctions regimes by the European Courts, particularly the Kadi-Judgment of 2008. The article then describes the implications of this judgment not only for the relationship between the law of the un and the eu and for the sanctions regime on the international and European level, but also for the overarching question whether liberty and security can be brought into balance with regard to targeted sanctions.