UPDATE: EU court says sanctions against Russia’s Rosneft justified

(Adds details in lede, paragraphs 2–4)

LUXEMBOURG, Mar 28 (PRIME) -- The E.U. Court of Justice on Tuesday found the E.U. sanctions imposed on Russian oil major Rosneft justified, and said that restrictions do not cover banking transactions.

The court said that the clarification of justification of these measures lies within its jurisdiction, and said that there are no elements that could put into question the 2014 decision of the E.U. to introduce sanctions against Rosneft. The sanctions also do not contradict the E.U.–Russia cooperation accord, as actions of the E.U. Council were valid.

The court also said that the E.U. would have used the term different from “financial assistance” in its restrictions if it had wanted all banking transactions of Rosneft to seek additional requests for permission. Thus, the goal of the introduction of sanctions is not to freeze assets of the company or to limit transactions of funds, the court said.

Lode Van Den Hende, a partner at legal firm Herbert Smith Freehills who represented Rosneft in the case, said that the company is not allowed to appeal against the decision, at least not in this particular court. He also said that the decision is disappointing.

Rosneft filed a suit to the U.K. High Court of Justice against Her Majesty's Treasury, the U.K. secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, the Financial Conduct Authority for the E.U. sectorial sanctions imposed on Russia, legitimacy of actions of the U.K. taken in compliance with the sanctions, as well as for the E.U. Council’s sanctions decisions in general.

The U.K. court in February 2015 requested the E.U. Court of Justice form a position on the sanctions.

In May 2016, an advocate general of the E.U. court recommended it approve legitimacy of the sanctions against Rosneft and approve measures of the U.K. taken to fulfill the sanctions. The advocate general believed the restrictive measures included payments by banks and prohibited provision of international certificates for shares that had been issued before introduction of the sanctions.

End