Interpreting an unsatisfactory EU Blocking Statute: Bank Melli Iran

Abstract

In 1996, the EU adopted Regulation 2271/96, known as the Blocking Statute, to protect the EU and EU operators against the effects of a third country’s extraterritorial regulations. 1 The Blocking Statute was a direct response to the promulgation of US “extraterritorial” sanctions regulations regarding Cuba, Iran, and Libya. These regulations did not only restrict trade and investment between US persons and sanctioned countries, but also between non-US persons, for example EU economic operators, and such countries. 2 The Blocking Statute was meant to nullify the effects of these regulations in the EU, but it lay dormant for many years, after EU/US differences were settled politically. In 2018, however, following US President Trump’s reinstatement of sanctions against Iran, the Blocking Statute was reactivated.