The EU Terror List and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC): About the Law as an Alleged Obstacle to Political Action

Abstract

This article examines the legal requirements for a listing on the so-called European Union (EU) terror list, an aspect that remains underdeveloped in both legal scholarship and policy debates on counter-terrorism measures. The analysis elucidates the substantive requirements governing listings on the EU terror list and applies them to the case of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It highlights the two-tiered nature of the EU terror listing process, in which an EU terror listing relies on a national authority’s decision regarding the potential target. Furthermore, an analysis of recent Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case-law outlines prospective developments in the Court of Justice’s scrutiny of restrictive measures. It will be shown that the CJEU exercises judicial deference in its examination of restrictive measures adopted by the Council, particularly in cases involving threats to the EU’s legal and democratic order or international security orchestrated by foreign state actors.