Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions)

ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT

11 February 2021 (*)

(Removal from the Register)

In Case C‑506/19 P,

APPEAL under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, brought on 2 July 2019,

Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, established in Tehran (Iran),

Hafize Darya Shipping Lines (HDSL), established in Tehran,

Safiran Payam Darya Shipping Lines (SAPID), established in Tehran,

Khazar Sea Shipping Lines Co., established in Anzali Free Zone (Iran),

Rahbaran Omid Darya Ship Management Co., established in Tehran,

Irinvestship Ltd, established in London (United UKKingdom),

IRISL Europe GmbH, established in Hamburg (Germany),

represented initially by M. Taher, Solicitor, and R. Blakeley, Barrister,

appellants,

the other party to the proceedings being:

Council of the European Union, represented by M. Bishop and H. Marcos Fraile, acting as Agents,

defendant at first instance,

THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT

after hearing the Advocate General, G. Hogan,

makes the following

Order

1        By document lodged via e-Curia on 14 July 2020, the appellants’ representatives informed the Court that they were no longer representing their clients.

2        In correspondence between the Registry of the Court of Justice and the appellants’ representatives, the latter provided the Court, by an email of 10 September 2020, with addresses for correspondence, namely the email addresses of two contact persons for the appellants. The appellants, by email of 12 September 2020 sent from one of those addresses, provided the Court with more of those contact persons’ contact details.

3        Following an email from the Court of 6 October 2020, reminding the appellants that representation by a lawyer is obligatory throughout proceedings before the Court and that they therefore needed to appoint new representatives in order to continue with the proceedings, the appellants informed the Court, by email of 7 October 2020, that it was impossible for them to hire new representatives because of the penalties imposed on them and the financial difficulties resulting from those penalties.

4        By a letter of 20 October 2020, addressed to the appellants’ representatives, the Court informed those representatives that they were still the Court’s point of contact for the appellants pending the appointment of new representatives by the appellants. It also asked them to remind the appellants that it was for them to appoint such representatives, in accordance with Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and Article 44 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, before 10 November 2020, or, in the event of their assets being frozen, to demonstrate, by the same deadline, that they had taken steps to ensure, in accordance with Article 26(1)(a)(ii) of Council Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 of 23 March 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EU) No 961/2010 (OJ 2012 L 88, p. 1), that part of their assets would be made available to them so that they might meet the costs of the present proceedings. In addition, in that letter the Court indicated that, if the appellants did not comply with those requests, Case C‑506/19 P would be removed from the Register of the Court.

5        The letter was also sent to the appellants at the postal address they had indicated in their email of 12 September 2020 and by email to the two email addresses indicated and previously used by the appellants in their correspondence with the Court.

6        By letter lodged at the Registry of the Court on 27 October 2020, the appellants’ representatives confirmed that they had forwarded the letter of 20 October 2020 to the appellants. In another letter, lodged at the Registry of the Court on 16 November 2020, they indicated that they had not received any response from the appellants. Furthermore, the appellants had also failed to contact the Court directly, either by the prescribed deadline, or after the expiry of that deadline.

7        By letter of 1 December 2020, the Court informed the Council of the European Union of the fact that it was planning, given the circumstances of the present case, to remove that case from the Register of the Court pursuant to Article 148 of the Rules of Procedure and requested that party to make a decision as to the costs, in accordance with Article 141 of those rules. A copy of that letter was served on the appellants’ representatives and communicated to the appellants themselves.

8        The Council replied to that letter on 8 December 2020, indicating that, in its view, the present case should be removed from the Register of the Court. Although the appellants’ representative sent a letter to the Court on 21 January 2021 asking whether the present case had been removed from the Register of the Court, the appellants themselves did not react to the communication of 1 December 2020.

9        In that regard, it should be borne in mind that, pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and with the exception of the specific case referred to in the seventh paragraph of that article, parties other than the Member States and institutions of the European Union must be represented by a lawyer before the Court. As can be seen from paragraphs 3 and 4 of the present order, the appellants’ attention was explicitly drawn to that obligation on two occasions, and, by the Court’s letter of 20 October 2020, to the consequences likely to result from a failure to fulfil that obligation in the present case.

10      As the appellants did not inform the Court, either by the prescribed deadline, that is to say, before 10 November 2020, or subsequently, that they had appointed new representatives or taken steps to ensure that part of their assets would be made available to them so that they might be able to hire such representatives, the Court concludes from their conduct as a whole that they do not intend to continue with the case and, accordingly, that they intend, at least implicitly, to discontinue the proceedings for the purposes of Article 148 of the Rules of Procedure. In those circumstances, it is appropriate to order that Case C‑506/19 P be removed from the Register of the Court, in accordance with that provision.

11      Pursuant to the combined provisions of Article 141(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Article 184(1) of those rules, a party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the other party’s observations on the discontinuance.

12      In view of the circumstances of the present case, and given that the Council applied for costs in its letter of 8 December 2020, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, Hafize Darya Shipping Lines (HDSL), Safiran Payam Darya Shipping Lines (SAPID), Khazar Sea Shipping Lines Co., Rahbaran Omid Darya Ship Management Co., Irinvestship Ltd and IRISL Europe GmbH must be ordered to pay the costs.

On those grounds, the President of the Court hereby orders:

1.      Case C‑506/19 P is removed from the Register of the Court.

2.      Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, Hafize Darya Shipping Lines (HDSL), Safiran Payam Darya Shipping Lines (SAPID), Khazar Sea Shipping Lines Co., Rahbaran Omid Darya Ship Management Co., Irinvestship Ltd and IRISL Europe GmbH are ordered to pay the costs.

Luxembourg, 11 February 2021.

*      Language of the case: English.

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