French Court Asks ECJ to Clarify Enforcement Question Over Assets Frozen Under Iraq Sanctions

The French Court of Cassation requested the European Court of Justice to interpret an element of the EU's sanctions on Iraq. The request comes in a case brought by Dutch air pollution control equipment company Instrubel NV in which a French court found that "preventative attachments" against Montana Management -- a trust fund formerly owned by Saddam Hussein -- were void because Montana hadn't been served. Montana was placed under the EU's Iraq sanctions regime in 2006, an EU Sanctions blog post said. Instead of serving Montana, the Iraqi government was served in the case. The Iraqi government in 2011 took control over the mandate of the Development Fund of Iraq, which the U.N. set up in 2003 to distribute assets seized from the Iraqi regime.

The Court of Cassation asked the ECJ if the funds frozen remain the property of the designated parties until a decision is made to transfer the funds to the DFI's successor or if they are the property of the DFI successor from the time of designation. The French court also asked if EU sanctions on Iraq stop a "judicial lien" or "preventative attachment" without a license if the frozen funds are found to be the DFI successor's property from the time of a party's sanctions designation.