Judgment_paragraph 58 · National Iranian Tanker Company v Council of the European Union (T-565/12)

58Secondly, as regards the argument advanced by the Council at the hearing, that the involvement of the applicant in the Iranian oil and gas sector, through its business in transporting crude oil and gas produced in Iran, is sufficient evidence in itself that the applicant provided financial support to the Government of Iran, it must be recalled that the listing of the applicant is based on the provision of financial support to the government of Iran, as a consequence of the ties maintained by the applicant’s shareholders with the Government of Iran. Yet the transport of oil is unrelated to the alleged existence of links between the applicant’s shareholders and that Government. According to the case-law, the legality of contested acts may be assessed only on the basis of the elements of fact and law on the basis of which they were adopted. The Court cannot accede to what is, in short, an invitation by the Council to replace the grounds on which those acts are based (see judgment of 12 November 2013 in Case T‑55/12 North Drilling v Council, not published in the ECR, paragraph 25 and case-law cited).