EU General Court Annuls Sanctions Listing of Belarus Tire Maker

The EU General Court on March 20 annulled the sanctions listing of tire maker Belshyna AAT, finding that the company wasn't a significant source of revenue for the Belarusian government.

Belshyna was listed in 2021 for generating large sums of revenue for the Alexander Lukashenko regime in Belarus and for firing employees who went on strike following the 2020 elections. The court said the firm received greater value-added tax refunds than it paid to the Belarus government, meaning it can't be found to be a "substantial source of revenue" for Minsk. The sanctions designation also didn't say Belshyna benefited from the regime, the court said, and that the Council of the EU failed to show that the firing of its employees was because of their strike against the Lukashenko regime and not due to "unjustified" absences.