“Country sanctions” refer to a range of measures taken against third States generally both in reaction to an alleged breach of their international obligations and to force the target to amend its conduct accordingly. Until recently, country sanctions were overshadowed by the case law on counterterrorism sanctions. As of now, country sanctions will probably prevail in terms of case load and innovation. The present study is based on the systematic analysis of over 100 decisions by the EU judicature forming the country-sanctions case law of the last four years and aims to interpret and set out the new perspectives of this case law along two main structural lines. First, it focuses on the constantly renewed contribution from the ECJ to flesh out the principles underpinning the EU’s power to impose country sanctions. Second, it presents the results of the systematic analysis of available case law with the aim of better understanding the core legal issues that will frame future country sanctions under EU law.
Common Market Law Review