Is the ECJ Ruling in Kadi Incompatible with International Law?

Summary:

This article discusses the Kadi ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from the perspective of public international law. The main premise of the article is that instead of using Kadi as evidence of a conflict between the normative orders of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), it is more useful to speak about tensions that exist within both legal orders.

The first section of the article demonstrates that the outcome in the Kadi case is compatible with international human rights law, as expressed in UN human rights treaties. The second section illustrates that the ECJ ruling in Kadi should be seen as an affirmation of a high degree of coherence between EU law and international law. The third section argues that the outcome in the Kadi case also has much support in institutional UN law. The last section of the article discusses whether there is a feasible alternative to a coherence-based reading of Kadi.

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