ECJ Overturns General Court's Annulment of Hamas Sanctions Listings

The European Court of Justice on Nov. 23 overturned the General Court's 2019 ruling that dropped the 2018 actions maintaining Hamas on the EU's terrorist sanctions list. The General Court had said the statement of reasons for including Hamas missed certain procedural requirements, including that it was not signed, had no heading and could not be identified as an act of the European Council. The ECJ, basing its ruling in part on a June opinion by the advocate general, held that the law does not require the council president to sign the statement of reasons and that "Article 15 of the Council’s Rules of Procedure cannot therefore be interpreted as imposing on the President and on the Secretary-General of the Council a stricter signature requirement than that" of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The November ruling ultimately held that the European Council's actions designating Hamas as a terrorist group did not violate the procedural requirements included in making such a designation, dismissing Hamas' lawsuit.