Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2026:341
Date: 2026-04-23
Language of the case: Italian

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Translation C-811/24 – 1 
Case C-811/24 
Request for a preliminary ruling 
Date lodged: 
26 November 2024 
Referring court: 
Consiglio di Stato (Italy) 
Date of the decision to refer: 
22 November 2024 
Applicant and appellant: 
Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC 
Defendant and respondent: 
Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy 
  
ITALIAN REPUBLIC 
Il Consiglio di Stato 
in sede giurisdizionale (Sezione Sesta) 
(Council of State, Judicial Division (Sixth Chamber), Italy) 
made the following 
ORDER 
in appeal number […] 3404 of 2024, brought by 
Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC […]; 
v 
EN 
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Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy (Ministry of Enterprises and Made in 
Italy) […]; 
for the variation 
of judgment No 605 of 6 October 2023 of the Tribunale Amministrativo 
Regionale per le Marche, Sezione Seconda (Regional Administrative Court 
(Second Chamber), Marche, Italy). 
[…] [national procedure] 
1 Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC (‘the Undertaking’ or ‘the Fishmonger’s’) states 
that it is the owner of a retail business for the sale of fish, crustaceans and 
molluscs, ATECO code 47.23, which it carries out through a dedicated counter 
inside a supermarket in the municipality of Ascoli Piceno. 
The applicant asserts that it submitted two applications to the Ministero dello 
Sviluppo Economico (Ministry of Economic Development, Italy) (now the 
Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy) for the grant of the subsidies provided 
for in Article 46 of d.l. (Decree-Law) No 50 of 2017 for businesses located in the 
Zona Franca Urbana (Urban Free Zone), established at the time of the 2016 
earthquakes, which includes the Municipality of Ascoli Piceno. 
The Undertaking, by decreti direttoriali (departmental decrees) of 7 December 
2017 and 7 August 2019, was granted subsidies in the amount of EUR 35 000.00 
and EUR 22 144.55, respectively. 
The Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Direzione Generale per gli 
incentivi alle imprese (Directorate General for Incentives for Enterprises), by 
decreti (Decree) Nos 45 and 47 of 11 January 2023: 
- having regard to the notice of revocation of 22 October 2021, in which it is 
stated that, ‘on the basis of the checks carried out through the Chamber of 
Commerce’s information system, Impresa Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC carries 
out an economic activity in the sector of production, processing and marketing of 
fishery and aquaculture products, as defined in Article 2(1) of Commission 
Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014, a condition of non-eligibility for 
the subsidies at issue, as provided for in point 7.4 of circolare direttoriale 
(Departmental Circular) No 243317 of 6 June 2019’; 
- verified that ‘the undertaking, contrary to what it claims, falls within the 
scope of application of the de minimis Regulation No 717/2014, since the activity 
of retail in fish, crustaceans and molluscs falls within the definition of ‘marketing 
of fishery and aquaculture products’ in Article 2(1) of Regulation No 717/2014. 
Point (g) of the first paragraph of Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 on 
the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products 
defines ‘retail’ in fishery products as the handling and/or processing of food and 
its storage at the point of sale or delivery to the final consumer. Retail in fishery 
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products is also excluded from the scope of application of the general de minimis 
Regulation No 1407/2013, which refers to activities of production, processing and 
marketing of non-agricultural products and to activities of processing and 
marketing of agricultural products and is therefore not applicable to the activity 
carried out by the undertaking’; 
- verified that the undertaking benefited from the subsidies granted in the amounts 
of EUR 19 384.87 and EUR 34 834.06; 
revoked those subsidies granted to Impresa Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC. 
The Fishmonger’s challenged those measures before the Regional Administrative 
Court, Marche, which, by judgment No 605 of the Second Chamber of 6 October 
2023, dismissed the appeal. The Undertaking therefore brought the present appeal, 
setting out the following grounds: 
1. Error of assessment regarding the finding of non-eligibility for the subsidies 
of the urban free zone, in relation to the plea alleging infringement of the law. 
Infringement of Article 46 of Decree-Law No 50/2017, Article 2 of Regulation 
(EU) No 717/2014 and Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013. Incorrect 
assessment of compliance with the conditions for the grant of subsidies. 
The court incorrectly found, on the basis of an obvious terminological 
misunderstanding, that the mere activity of retail resale of fishery products, being 
‘trade’, falls within the scope of the ‘processing and marketing of fishery and 
aquaculture products’, not realising that the European legislation establishing the 
single market provides a precise definition of that latter activity, restricting it to 
the scope of production which gives rise to the end-product, ready to be placed on 
the consumer market. 
The ‘marketing’ process always refers to the activities of preparing the product for 
the final market, that is to say, to those standardised operations which make the 
good suitable for its distribution to the final user from the point of view of quality 
assurance and standardisation, whereas that stage does not concern sale to the 
public. 
There is no provision, even at national level, that permits the mere activity of 
retail sale of fish and molluscs to be included in the so-called ‘industrial’ fishery 
and aquaculture sector. 
The applicant demonstrated that it is the owner of a mere purchase and resale 
business for consumption of fishery products, a circumstance which, in addition to 
not being disputed by the respondent authority, is proved by the documentation 
before the Court, according to which it satisfies the legal conditions for admission 
to the advantages provided by the establishment of the Urban Free Zone under 
Article 46 of Decree-Law 50/2017. 
[…] [question of national law] 
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[…] [question of national law not relevant for the purposes of the present 
question referred for a preliminary ruling] 
The Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy disputed the merits of the pleas 
raised and contended that the appeal should be dismissed. 
[…] [national procedure] 
2 The contested revocations, as set out above, were ordered because 
- the notice of revocation of 22 October 2021 showed that, on the basis of the 
checks carried out through the Chamber of Commerce’s information system, the 
fishmonger’s undertaking Il Granchio Blu di JC carries out an economic activity 
in the sector of production, processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture 
products, as defined in Article 2(1) of Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 
of 27 June 2014, a condition of non-eligibility for the subsidies at issue, as 
provided for in point 7.4 of Departmental Circular No 243317 of 6 June 2019. 
- the undertaking falls within the scope of application of de minimis Regulation 
No 717/2014, since the activity [of] retail in fish, crustaceans and molluscs falls 
within the definition of ‘marketing of fishery and aquaculture products’ in 
Article 2(1) of Regulation No 717/2014. Point (g) of the first paragraph of 
Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 on the common organisation of the 
markets in fishery and aquaculture products defines ‘retail’ in fishery products as 
the handling and/or processing of food and its storage at the point of sale or 
delivery to the final consumer. Retail in fishery products is also excluded from the 
scope of application of the general de minimis Regulation No 1407/2013, which 
refers to activities of production, processing and marketing of non-agricultural 
products and to activities of processing and marketing of agricultural products and 
is therefore not applicable to the activity carried out by the undertaking. 
3 Paragraph 7.4 of the abovementioned ministerial circular No 243317 of 6 June 
2019 provided that the subsidies are granted subject to compliance with 
Regulation 1407/2013 and Regulation 1408/2013, according to which entities 
operating in all sectors of economic activity, except the fishery and aquaculture 
sector, may be eligible for the subsidies. 
Paragraph 6.4 of circular No 100050 of 29 March 2001 of the competent ministry 
also stated that the subsidies in question are granted subject to compliance with 
Regulation 1407/2013 and Regulation 1408/2013, according to which entities 
operating in all sectors of economic activity, except entities active in the 
production, processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, as 
defined in Article 2(1) of Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 
2014, may be eligible for the subsidies. 
4 As regards the [EU] rules – which constitute the relevant legal framework for the 
decision in the present case – Article 107(1) TFEU (formerly Article 87 EC) 
provides that: ‘save as otherwise provided in the Treaties, any aid granted by a 
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Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts 
or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the 
production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Member 
States, be incompatible with the internal market’. 
Article 108(3) of the Treaty provides for the notification of State aid to the 
Commission. 
Article 109 TFEU (formerly Article 89 EC) also provides that: ‘the Council, on a 
proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, 
may make any appropriate regulations for the application of Articles 107 and 108 
and may in particular determine the conditions in which Article 108(3) shall apply 
and the categories of aid exempted from this procedure’. 
Article 108(4) further provides that: ‘the Commission may adopt regulations 
relating to the categories of State aid that the Council has, pursuant to 
Article 109, determined may be exempted from the procedure provided for by 
paragraph 3 of this Article’. 
The Council of the European Union, in accordance with the abovementioned 
Article 108(4), by Regulation (EC) No 994/98, decided that one of those 
categories is ‘de minimis’ aid, so that ‘de minimis’ aid, that is to say aid which 
does not exceed a certain fixed amount granted to a single undertaking over a 
given period of time, must be regarded as not meeting all the criteria of 
Article 107(1) of the Treaty and is therefore not subject to the notification 
procedure. 
5 The ‘fishery and aquaculture’ sector was excluded from the scope of application 
of the regulations on ‘de minimis’ aid in view of the special rules which apply in 
that sector and of the risk that, even limited amounts of aid could fulfil the criteria 
in Article 107(1) of the Treaty. 
By way of confirmation, it should be noted that Commission Regulation (EU) 
No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 concerns the application of Articles 107 and 
108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to ‘de minimis’ aid, 
whereas Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014 specifically 
concerns the application of those articles of the TFEU [to] State aid in the fishery 
and aquaculture sector. 
Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 – on the fishery and aquaculture 
sector – emphasised in recital 5 that: ‘considering the scope of the common 
fisheries policy and the definition of the fishery and aquaculture sector laid down 
in Article 5(d) of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and 
the Council, this Regulation should be applicable to undertakings active in 
production, processing and marketing of the fishery and aquaculture products’. 
Article 2(c) of Regulation (EU) 717/2014 defines, for the purposes of the 
regulation, ‘processing and marketing’ as all operations, including handling, 
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treatment, production and distribution, performed between the time of landing or 
harvesting and the end-product stage. 
Article 5(d) of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 defines, for the purposes of the 
Regulation, ‘fishery and aquaculture sector’ as the sector of the economy which 
comprises all activities of production, processing and marketing of fishery and 
aquaculture products. 
6 Article 46(7) of Decree-Law No 50 of 2017, converted into law, with 
amendments, by Law No 96 of 2017, a national provision governing the 
establishment of the urban free zone in central Italy by providing for certain 
subsidies, states that: ‘the subsidies referred to in this article shall be granted in 
accordance with and within the limits of Commission Regulation (EU) 
No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of 
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid, and 
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the 
application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the 
European Union to de minimis aid in the agriculture sector’. 
Accordingly, undertakings active in all economic sectors, except those active in 
the production, processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, 
may be eligible for the subsidies. 
7 The examination of whether or not the first ground of appeal is well-founded, 
which constitutes the central issue in the dispute, is based on the interpretation of 
the [EU] rules governing the matter, since, if the activity of retail of fish, 
crustaceans and molluscs carried out by the appellant Undertaking were to be 
included in the fishery and aquaculture sector in so far as it falls within the 
production, processing and marketing of the products concerned, the subsidy 
could not be granted, whereas if, by contrast, the activity of retail were to fall 
outside the fishery and aquaculture sector, the outcome would be the opposite, that 
is to say the subsidy could be granted. 
8 The Court considers that the arguments put forward by the Undertaking in its 
appeal can, on the whole, be followed, in so far as, if, in accordance with Article 2 
of Regulation (EU) 717/2014 on de minimis aid in the fishery and aquaculture 
sector – the article containing the definitions – retail in fishery products were 
excluded from the applicable scope of undertakings active in the production, 
processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, it could be eligible 
for subsidies under the legislation on urban free zones. 
According to that provision (Article 2(c), cited above), ‘processing and marketing’ 
means all operations, including handling, treatment, production and distribution, 
performed between the time of landing or harvesting and the end-product stage; 
retail should therefore take place at a later stage, which implies that the end-
product stage has already taken place. 
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Similarly, while it is the case that point (d) of Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 
No 1379/2013 – on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and 
aquaculture products – defines the ‘fishery and aquaculture sector’ as the sector of 
the economy which comprises all activities of production, processing and 
marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, it is also the case that the following 
point (g) defines ‘retail’ as the handling and/or processing of food and its storage 
at the point of sale or the final consumer’s delivery, including distribution 
terminals, catering operations, factory canteens, institutional catering, restaurants 
and other similar food service operations, shops, supermarket distribution centres 
and wholesale outlets. Those definitions imply that retail is something other than 
the fishery and aquaculture sector (and it may be noted here that the definitions 
are distinct and differentiated, but that fact, while permitting a diverse system to 
be envisaged, is contained in a legislative text of the [European Union] which 
governs the sector as a whole, thereby giving rise to doubts as to whether retail is 
as a general rule included in the common organisation of the markets in fishery 
and aquaculture products). 
The Court considers that the analysis of the European regulatory provisions seems 
to suggest that retail activity in the fishery sector is an autonomous and 
subsequent phase […] in relation to the activities of production, processing and 
marketing of products, which characterise the fishery and aquaculture sector, but 
on that point – since these are definitions which affect the scope of application of 
the abovementioned [EU] rules and there are no precedents – the interpretative 
assistance of the Court of Justice of the European Union is requested. 
In short, it would appear that the activity of the marketing of fishery products by 
producers to resellers falls within the fishery and aquaculture sector, whereas sales 
by traders to final consumers fall within the subsequent and autonomous retail 
phase. 
9 Nevertheless, given that, in the present case, the interpretation of the European 
rules has a clear systemic impact on the national ‘de minimis’ aid scheme, the 
Court considers that a question should be referred to the Court of Justice of the 
European Union for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU. 
[…] [Article 267 TFEU] 
The questions of interpretation referred to the Court of Justice are as follows: 
‘does the definition of ‘processing and marketing’ in Article 2[1](c) of 
Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014 also include the 
activity of retail of fishery products and is any exclusion from the scope of 
application of Regulation No 717/2014, based on the wording of that provision, 
compatible with the wording of Article 5(d) and (g) of Regulation (EU) 
No 1379/2013 which defines retail in the common organisation of the markets in 
fishery products autonomously, or is such an exclusion incompatible with the 
general rules governing the fishery sector since Regulation No 1379/2013 in any 
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event contains a definition of retail which includes it among the activities of the 
fishery sector (the Court is inclined to take the view that the exclusion is 
compatible)’; 
‘ultimately, is Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014 
applicable to the activity of retail of fishery products […] by reason of the 
relevance of retail to the fishery sector or its clear differentiation (the referring 
Court finds that latter view, which leads to the exclusion of retail activity from the 
scope of application of Regulation (EU) No 717/2014, more persuasive)’; 
‘does EU law preclude a national law which permits de minimis aid to be granted 
to undertakings which engage in the retail of fishery products eligible for 
subsidies in so far as they differ from industrial fishing and are included in the 
urban free zone established after the earthquake that occurred in central Italy?’ 
10 […] 
11 […] [stay of the national proceedings and directions for the national registry] 
ON THOSE GROUNDS 
The Council of State, Judicial Division (Sixth Chamber) […] hereby orders: 
- referral of the questions of interpretation set out in the grounds of this order 
to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling: 
[…] [stay of the national proceedings and directions for the national registry] 
[…] 
[…]