MOSCOW/BRUSSELS, December 12 (RAPSI, Vladimir Yaduta) - Rosneft oil company relies on nine pleas in support of its application lodged with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over sanctions imposed on it among a number of other Russian entities, according to court records.

Rosneft claims that its defence rights and rights to effective judicial protection were violated as Council of the European Union failed to provide reasons sufficient to permit a review of legality of the provisions which the company is seeking to annul.

The company alleges that the Council failed to produce material which could justify the measures against Russian businesses as having a legitimate or lawful aim.

The third point is that the introduction of sanctions allegedly led to violation of the EU’s international law obligations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia and/or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Rosneft then claims in several other points that the Council lacked competence or could not lawfully adopt the disputed measures because of discrepancies in its policies and efforts. Moreover, the disputed measures "infringed the fundamental principle of equal treatment and non-arbitrariness", according to Rosneft.

Finally, the company alleges "breach of the constitutional guarantee of legal certainty, including in the lack of clarity of key terms in the relevant measures."

Rosneft lodged an application with the ECJ along with four other Russian companies on October 9.

On August 1, the EU and the US banned the sale of deepwater oil exploration and production equipment for oil extraction in the Arctic and at shale oil fields in Russia. In September, the EU and the US also banned the provision of oil/gas extraction related services for such projects. In addition to Rosneft, the ECJ has received sanctions-related claims from Vnesheconombank, Sberbank, VTB and Gazprom Neft.