The Law and Practice of EU Sanctions

EU sanctions do not fit easily among other parts of CFSP. They consist of a peculiar combination of a CFSP decision, adopted under Title V of the TEU, and a regulation adopted pursuant to the TFEU. Any conclusions drawn from case law on sanctions can therefore only be generalized to other parts of CFSP with caution. This is, among other things, what this chapter does. It explains the exceptionalism of sanctions and cautiously traces the implications of sanctions for CFSP more broadly and other fields of law (e.g. of the EU closed evidence procedure introduced to meet the needs of sanctions litigation). It then examines the intrinsic tension between the political objectives of sanctions and their regulatory, administrative or even criminal character. Finally, the chapter identifies new trends (ever more sanctions; ever more litigation) and makes recommendations on how sanctions should be improved (better listing criteria).