Freezing of Terrorist Funds, Social Assistance to Spouses and Interpretation of EU Law: Case C-340/08

The Court of Justice recently narrowed the scope of EU measures taken to freeze the funds of designated terrorist organizations in Case C-340/08 M v. Others.

The Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 of May 27th 2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda network and the Taliban in order to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1390 (2002). That Resolution required all countries to:

"Freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, including funds derived from property owned or controlled directly or indirectly, by them or by persons acting on their behalf or at their direction, and ensure that neither these nor any other funds, financial assets or economic resources are made available, directly or indirectly for such persons’ benefit, or by their nationals or by persons within their territory”.

The United Kingdom interpreted the "on their behalf" requirement strictly by withholding payment of social security and other entitlements to the spouses of individuals designated by the UN Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee. The UK regulations issued required that such benefit payments could be paid to terrorist spouses only if they applied for a license granting such payments, and then only to a bank account held in the name of the spouse. Payments would be made in limited amounts calculated to cover each member of the household except the designated individual.

“M”, who purports to be the spouse of a designated individual challenged the British measures measures in the English courts and the House of Lords referred the case to the Court of Justice which asked a question on the scope of Article 2 of Regulation 881/2002 and in particular whether that provision requires the freezing of funds in the form of social security paid to spouses of designated persons who will or may use the money to pay for goods and services which the designated person will consume or benefit from.

The Court of Justice held that the British measures were too strict and that member States are not required by Article 2 of Regulation 881/2002 to freeze payments to spouses on the grounds only that the spouse lives with the designated person and that person may or will use some of those payments to pay for goods or services which he will consume or benefit from.

The Court noted that the different language versions of Regulation 881/2002 diverged: Support for the UK's interpretation of Article 2 to include making funds available indirectly for the benefit of a designated person could be found in the English, Hungarian, Dutch, Finnish and Swedish versions. On the other hand, the Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian versions were different. And the German and Italian versions were different again.

Consequently, the Court recalled its settled case-law that the different language versions of a text of EU law must be given a uniform interpretation and hence, in the case of divergence between the language versions, the provision in question must be interpreted by reference to the purpose and general scheme of the rules of which it forms a part (Case C‑341/01 PlatoPlastik Robert Frank [2004] ECR I‑4883, paragraph 64 and case-law cited). Also to interpret Regulation No 881/2002, account must also be taken of the wording and purpose of Resolution 1390 (2002) which that regulation is designed to implement (Joined Cases C‑402/05 P and C‑415/05 P Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council and Commission [2008] ECR I‑6351, paragraph 297 and case-law cited).

The Court held that the objective of Regulation No 881/2002 is to prevent designated persons from having at their disposal any financial or economic resources, in order to impede the financing of terrorist activities (Case C‑117/06 Möllendorf and Möllendorf-Niehuus [2007] ECR I‑8361, paragraph 63) in order to combat international terrorism, in particular to cut it off from its financial resources by freezing the economic funds and resources of persons or entities suspected of involvement in activities linked to terrorism (Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council and Commission, paragraph 169).

The Court went on to find that it was not argued that the spouses concerned hand over those funds to a designated person instead of allocating them to their basic household expenses. It was not disputed that, in the cases in the main proceedings, the funds in question are in fact used by the spouses concerned to meet the essential needs of the households to which the designated persons belong. If the funds are misappropriated then such a misappropriation of funds would, moreover, be covered by the prohibition laid down in Article 2(2) of that regulation and would constitute an offence punishable under national criminal law.

Accordingly, the Court concluded that having regard to the differences in the language versions of Article 2(2) of Regulation No 881/2002, that provision must, in the light of its object, be construed as meaning that it does not apply to the payment of social security or social assistance benefits in circumstances such as those in issue in the main proceedings.

The Court added for good measure that in construing a provision of secondary EU law, preference should as far as possible be given to the interpretation which renders the provision consistent with the general principles of European Union law and, more specifically, with the principle of legal certainty (C‑1/02 Borgmann [2004] ECR I‑3219, paragraph 30 and case-law cited). That principle requires legislation, such as Regulation 881/2002, which imposes restrictive measures having considerable impact on the rights and freedoms of designated persons (Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council and Commission, paragraph 375) and which, as provided in Article 10 of that regulation, in domestic law involves penalties, in this instance criminal penalties, for infringement of those measures, to be clear and precise so that the persons concerned, including third parties such as the social security bodies involved in the main proceedings, may know unambiguously their rights and duties and take measures accordingly. If Regulation 881/2002 were to be construed differently, legal uncertainty would be endangered, in particular so far as concerns triangular situations in which funds are made available, directly or indirectly, not to a designated person but to someone else to whom the designated person is more or less closely connected and in which the latter indirectly derives some benefit from those funds.

Comments

[credit card]

I just wanted to leave a quick comment to say thank you for sharing
the material with the public. I found reading it
to be both educative and informative.

[coach handbags]

Good is good and bad is bad
You don't know which one you had
She put your books out on the sidewalk
Now they're blowing 'round

[nike air max]

I think this is a great post. One thing that I find the most helpful is number five. Sometimes when I write, I just let the flow of the words and information come out so much that I loose the purpose. It’s only after editing when I realize what I’ve done.

[gucci belts]

Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need!b Keep 'em coming... you all do such a great job at such Concepts... can't tell you how much I, for one appreciate all you do!

[Houston Criminal Attorney]

Best post which contains good information.Thanks for sharing this.

[Discount Timberland uk]

Awesome, thats a goods information for mee… any others site for this info?

[handbags wholesale]

My friend told me that this blog is competitive.wholesale new era caps i will read more.Once again great post. You seem to have a good understanding of these themes.When I entering your blog,I felt this . handbags wholesale Come on and keep writting your blog will be more attractive. To Your Success!

Thanks for sharing your article.cheap LV handbags I really enjoyed it. I put a link to my site to here so other people can read it.chanel handbags online Came across your blog when I was searching bing I have found the bit of info that
I found to be quite useful.

[new louis vuitton belt]

you get to that position where you have it so you can throw

[medical billing]

Which begs the question: if regulation is part of the problem, why do we think that more regulation is the solution?

[ghd]

Its really very good information. Thanks for sharing this info.

[coach]

Coach handbags and purses are made from the highest quality leather and are manufactured by highly skilled workers that take pride in the products they make.

[manolo blahnik]

We place quite a bit of importzance on our shoes these days. At one time in the long ago past, Mnaolo Blahnik shoes were meant to protect our feet. Today, they are made to make a stateent! Our shoes are a big part of our wardrobe.

[manolo blahnik]

Manolo Blahnik popular main reason, is even shoes with tall and thin, but still strong, can withstand the body weight, excellent balance and comfort, something the Manolo Blahnik I also proud.

[Bastien boots]

You are a very smart person! :)

[ugg]

imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden,

[Microsoft Office 2007]

Finally, the report states 60% find it easier to locate “knowledge” on the Web than on internal systems. I used to ask this question when I spoke on social media and knowledge management and I never found a single audience member who said it was easier to find content within their organization than on the Web.

[prezzi orologi]

aspetto massiccio e Luminor caso con il quadrante a sandwich

[Ed Hardy]

Ed Hardy (Ed) often use embroidery, paints and splash-ink skill, builds a decadent and mi li, combine the Tattoo in written by master, tiger, camellia skeleton, devil, daggers and naked female Tattoo pattern etc, creating a series of tide of fashion.

[wholesaler]

Can you image that there is a good place which you can buy anything you want with a low price.

[stock shoes]

have a look yiwu ,maybe you will search for another, try yiwu china ,Ok.

[christian louboutin shoes]

This post is a winner! Love the tips and everything you suggest.. Thanks

[xxjersey]

Extended surface

"Social Insurance Law" is the core of the field of social nhl jerseys security legislation, the most basic laws. As can be seen from the legal provisions, it is not only to urban workers, but also to the civil service, urban residents, flexible employment, farmers and other social groups.

In the "Social Insurance Law" through the date of the NPC Standing Committee Vice-Ren Xinchun legal Jerseys eagle in the Office of the NPC Standing Committee organized a press conference, says that the biggest achievement of the Act is "to establish the coverage of all urban and rural residents social insurance system. "

However, the law for civil servants and reference "Civil Law" management staff pension insurance for farmers and new rural cooperative medical insurance social insurance of farmers whose land are not clearly defined ways of implementation, but to authorize the State Council separately requirements.

A Human Resources and Social Security Ministry official told reporters that a larger resistance to the civil service nfl jerseys wholesale pension reform, estimated in recent years is difficult to be effectively promoted.

If the civil servant pension system can not be effectively promoted, then to 3,000 million related to pension reform public institutions is also difficult to implement down.

State Council executive meeting in 2008 the five provinces and cities to implement the pilot reform of the pension institutions mlb jerseys have been fruitless, "extended surface" of legal provisions at only literally.

However, King & Wood area of Labor and Social Security Law Jiangjun Lu on the "Financial State Week," told reporters, law there were also some provisions for the establishment of practical problems.

For example, ten IX: "Collection of social insurance institutions to pay social insurance premiums without changing base rates,nfl jerseys resulting in more revenue or social insurance premiums received by the relevant administrative department shall order the recovery of social insurance premiums should be paid or the refund should not be pay social insurance premiums; the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be punished. "

Jiangjun Lu said that since reform and opening, there has been the secret of China's manufacturing industry, the first is the low wages, and the second is the government in terms of social insurance contributions to the enterprise, "none other."

Some local governments to attract investment and do everything possible introduction of local policies, allow companies to hold over wholesale nfl jerseys or direct reduction of their social insurance. At present, there have been a city south of social insurance pay outstanding loans to be 400 to 500 billion yuan of the phenomenon, risks can not be overlooked. Therefore, the "Social Security Act," introduced in terms of this issue is very relevant.

"If, in practice, the implementation of this provision was effective, at least to contain this hazard will continue to play a role in the spread." Jiangjun Lu said.

[wholesale laptop battery]

North Korea said the U.S. should be blamed for the incident, because "the unilateral delimitation of territorial sea of the United States illegally in Korea's 'northern boundary'", resulting in the Korean conflict in the western sea is full of danger.

[replica watches]

Just to say,I am glad to read so good article in the webstie.Well,OK.I have to say,what a wonderful blog it is.thank you for your sharing so good articles in the website.I like it very much.It is very interesting in it.Look forward to reading so good articles in the website.I will reommenda a watch to you,http://www.replicawatch-uk.com/44-breitling,
I hope you will like it ,very much

[Baseball Hats]

I gave my site a few examples below. If you appreciate my comments in you enter.Baseball Hats