EU General Court upholds ban on legal advice for Russian entities

The European Union General Court has upheld EU sanctions that prohibit giving legal advice to the Russian government and Russian entities, confirming that the ban does not extend to advice relating to judicial or arbitral proceedings.

It was confirmed in the EU Court’s press release. This decision is part of the EU sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s war aggression against Ukraine.

Bar associations from Belgium, France, and the Netherlands filed lawsuits against this ban. However, the EU Court rejected their complaints, stating that the ban does not violate the right to legal defense or affect individuals’ legal representation in judicial, administrative, or arbitration proceedings.

In its judgment, the General Court rejected the lawyers’ arguments on the grounds that the ban did not undermine the right to effective judicial protection. The General Court argues that the prohibition applies only to the provision of legal advice by a lawyer and not to the provision of assistance by a lawyer during legal proceedings.

The EU ban does not apply to legal advice given to natural persons, according to the General Court. The judges also ruled that the ban does not undermine professional secrecy and lawyers’ independence, as the lawyers had argued.

The ban, which is part of the EU’s sanctions, only applies to legal consultations unrelated to court cases and aims to increase pressure on Russia to force it to stop the war.

The General Court notes that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union recognizes all persons as having a right to effective judicial protection, which includes the right to legal advice and representation in the context of ongoing or anticipated litigation. The judgment states that the prohibition at issue does not call that right into question.

The court separately emphasizes that legal advisory assistance provided to individuals is not subject to the sanction restrictions introduced by the EU Council.

The EU court clarified in that regard “that the general prohibition on providing legal advisory services to the Russian government or to legal persons, entities, or bodies established in Russia does not concern legal advisory services provided in connection with judicial, administrative, or arbitral proceedings. The prohibition thus applies only to legal advice that has no link with judicial proceedings,” the document says.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has introduced 14 packages of individual and sectoral economic sanctions against the Russian state, including legal services.

In October 2022, the European Union imposed its eighth package of sanctions, which banned IT consulting, legal consultations, architectural, and engineering services for Russian companies.

With certain exemptions, these restrictive legal measures prohibit any European companies involved in the provision of legal advisory services, including those practicing in the EU territory, from rendering any legal services to the Russian government and to Russia-based legal entities or organizations.

The UK adopted a similar ban on consulting in 2023. London banned individuals and legal entities associated with the Russian government from accessing British legal expertise.

In 2024, the United States prohibited American companies from providing IT consulting, design, support, and cloud services to any legal entities in Russia.