Shipowner Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has lost a bid to annul sanctions rulings made against it by the European Union in 2013.
It and 10 other linked companies had asked the Court of Justice of the European Communities to overturn a rejection of its plea to the General Court of the European Union in February 2017.
The EU had alleged in 2010 that IRISL has been involved in the shipment of military-related cargo, including proscribed cargo from Iran. It imposed restrictive measures such as the freezing of its funds.
In 2013, the General Court annulled sanctions imposed that year on the grounds that the Council had not "justified to the requisite legal standard its contention that IRISL had assisted listed persons or entities in infringing Security Council resolutions, nor established that, by having transported — on three occasions — military material in breach of the arms embargo, it had provided support for nuclear proliferation."
But the EU responded by changing its criteria with a new sanctions ruling in November 2013.
IRISL claimed the 2013 decisions were illegal due to errors in law, but the Court of Justice rejected its arguments.
It ordered the Iranian companies to pay their own costs and those of the Council of the European Union.
The European Commission, which was supporting the council, has to bear its own court expenses, however.
The measures against IRISL and others were suspended in 2015 following the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement between Iran, the UN Security Council and the EU.
