EU Court Rejects Delisting Applications From Belarusian Auto Companies

The EU General Court on Oct. 18 rejected two sanctions delisting applications from Belarusian automakers Minsk Automobile Plant and BelAZ. In separate applications, the companies said the European Council failed to notify them of the sanctions, failed in the wording of the companies' names in the sanctions listings and failed in assessing the facts surrounding their designations.

The court said the council properly produced a letter notifying the companies of their listing, and even if the names on the sanctions decisions were different from their formally registered company names, the council's decision at the very least includes the terms "OJSC 'MAZ,'" which is in the first part of the officially registered short company name and the clarification "Minskii Avtomobilnyi Zavod." As a result, the alleged error here did not prevent the company from "exercising its right of defense and its right to effective judicial protection," the court said.

The court also ruled that the council "did not err in law in finding that" the companies' "position in the Belarusian economy" was a revenue source for President Alexander Lukashenko's regime, and that this was a "sufficient basis" for the sanctions decisions.