Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 13 March 2012 — Melli Bank plc v Council of the European Union, French Republic, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, European Commission

(Case C-380/09 P) (1)

(Appeal - Common foreign and security policy - Restrictive measures against the Islamic Republic of Iran to prevent nuclear proliferation - Freezing the funds of a bank’s subsidiary - Principle of proportionality - Ownership or control of the entity)

2012/C 133/02

Language of the case: English

Parties

Appellant: Melli Bank plc (represented by: D. Anderson and D. Wyatt QC, R. Blakeley, Barrister, instructed by S. Gadhia and T. Din, Solicitors)

Other parties to the proceedings: Council of the European Union, (represented by: M. Bishop and R. Szostak, Agents), French Republic, (represented by: E. Belliard, G. de Bergues, L. Butel and E. Ranaivoson, Agents), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (represented by: S. Hathaway, Agent, and S. Lee, Barrister), European Commission (represented by: S. Boelaert and M. Konstantinidis, Agents)

Re:

Appeal brought against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (Second Chamber) of 9 July 2009 in Joined Cases T-246/08 and T-332/08 Melli Bank plc v Council of the European Union by which that court dismissed an application for the annulment in part of Council Decision 2008/475/EC of 23 June 2008 implementing Article 7(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 423/2007 concerning restrictive measures against Iran (OJ 2008 L 163, p. 29), in so far as the appellant’s name appears in the list of persons, bodies and entities to which those provisions apply.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

(1)  OJ C 282, 21.11.2009.