Judgment_paragraph 74 · Aguy Clement Georgias and Others v Council of the European Union and European Commission (T-168/12)

74Further, in a situation where the Council defines abstractly the criteria which may justify the listing of a person, or entity, in the list of persons or entities subject to restrictive measures adopted on the basis of Articles 60 EC and 301 EC, it is the task of the Court to determine, on the basis of the pleas in law raised by the person or entity concerned or, where necessary, raised of its own motion, whether the case in point corresponds to the abstract criteria defined by the Council. That review extends to the assessment of the facts and circumstances relied on as justifying the listing of the person or entity concerned on the list of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures, and to verifying the evidence and information on which that assessment is based. The Court must likewise ensure that the rights of the defence are observed and that the requirement of a statement of reasons is satisfied and also, where applicable, that the overriding considerations relied on exceptionally by the Council in order to justify disregarding those rights are well founded (see, to that effect, Bank Melli Iran v Council, paragraph 72 above, paragraph 37).