JURIST - Paper Chase: EU overhauls terror blacklist procedures after court annulled asset freeze

[JURIST] The Council of the European Union [official website] Friday released changes made to the procedure used in establishing and maintaining its list of terrorist entities. The revisions [press release, PDF] include a plan to send "letters of notification" to listed parties, who are subject to having their assets frozen, to explain why the individual or group was included on the list. Groups may also challenge their inclusion on the list through the European Court of First Instance [official website]. Finally, the council established [official mandate and working methods, PDF] a new Council Working Party to make list-related recommendations to the council.

The revisions were made in response to the Court of First Instance annulling the asset freeze [JURIST report] of Iranian opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) [organization website; Wikipedia backgrounder], after the group launched a legal challenge to their placement on the list. The court said that the decision to freeze PMOI's assets was made without giving the group a fair hearing, and without giving a "sufficient statement of reason." AFP has more.

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