Prohibiting Compliance With Certain U.S. Sanctions—Advocate-General Grapples With EU Blocking Statute Catch-22

In Short

The Situation: The EU Blocking Statute prohibits EU operators from complying with certain U.S. sanctions, creating a Catch-22 for EU operators facing two directly opposing legal regimes. Important guidance on the precise scope of the EU Blocking Statute is expected from the European Court of Justice's ("ECJ") currently pending case, Bank Melli Iran v Telekom Deutschland GmbH (Case C-124/20).

The Result: Advocate-General Hogan delivered his Opinion on 12 May 2021. While referring to the "impossible-and quite unfair-dilemmas" faced by EU operators, he applies a strict interpretation of the EU Blocking Statute, although also calling on the EU legislature to review the current operation of the EU Blocking Statute.