Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft’s fight against political sanctions is heading to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) following a discrepancy in the definition of payment processing across EU states.
A judicial review challenge in the UK High Court brought against HM Treasury, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ended on Monday with the referral.
The EU imposed restrictive measures against Russia after its annexation of Crimea and intervention in Ukraine, with the UK implementing sanctions in November last year.
Under the rules, EU nationals must not “provide financial services or assistance” to Rosneft.
The company, which suffered heavily as a result of the measures, challenged the legality of the sanctions and launched a litigation case against UK authorities in the same month.
Despite that initially unsuccessful attempt, the company was allowed to bring the judicial review challenge, which resulted in the latest twist.
It argued that no definition of financial assistance has been explicitly provided that extends as far as payment services, or whether the processing of payments, by a bank or other