The European Court of Justice handed down its decision in the Kadi and Al-Barakaat joint cases on 3 September 2008.[1] After reviewing the treatment of the case by the Court of First Instance with considerable attention, the Court divided its conclusions into three separate but interdependent issues: (i) the Council’s competence in adopting the regulation (Regulation 881/2002 and others that have followed to amend it) for the freezing of financial resources by states of persons related directly or indirectly to organizations considered to engage in international terror activities; (ii) the compatibility of the regulation with Article 249 EC Treaty; and…