On 11 December, the EU Council imposed restrictive measures against 6 individuals and 5 entities involved in Iran’s development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) used by Russia in its war inUkraine.
Those are the first listings under the newly established framework for restrictive measures in view of Iran’s support of Russia. The new designations include:
Shakad Sanat Asmari Company, its CEO, deputy CEO, and chief scientist;
Baharestan Kish Company and its managing director, Saad Sazeh Faraz Sharif and its CEO, as well as Sarmad Electronic Sepahan Company,offering aerospace engineering services, and companies helping Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) improve the UAV programme (Kimia Part Sivan Company) (Press release & EU Council Decision (CFSP) 2023/2792 of 11 December 2023).
On 6 December, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rejected delisting application in the case of Evgeny Borisovich Zubitskiy v Council (Case T-359/22). In its judgment, the CJEU stated that the notion of “influential businessmen” shall be understood as referring to the importance of the latter with regard, in particular, to their professional status, the importance of their economic activities, the scale of their capital holdings or their functions within one or more companies where they carry out these activities. In response to the applicant’s argument about the reliability of evidence used by Council to designate him, the Court stated that in the absence of any element capable of calling into question the reliability of the sources used by the Council, they must be recognised as sensible and reliable.
On 04 December 2023 the EU extended its Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime for another three years.
