Provisional text
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Ninth Chamber)
23 April 2026 (*)
( Reference for a preliminary ruling – De minimis aid – Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 – Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 – Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 – Respective scopes – Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 – Fishery and aquaculture sector – Common organisation of the markets – Undertakings operating in the production, processing and marketing of fishery products – Retail trade – National legislation providing for
de minimis aid for undertakings located in zones affected by earthquakes )
In Case C‑811/24,
REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Consiglio di Stato (Council of State, Italy), made by decision of 22 November 2024, received at the Court on 26 November 2024, in the proceedings
Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC
v
Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy,
THE COURT (Ninth Chamber),
composed of M. Condinanzi, President of the Chamber, R. Frendo and A. Kornezov (Rapporteur), Judges,
Advocate General: D. Spielmann,
Registrar: A. Calot Escobar,
having regard to the written procedure,
after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:
–        Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC, by L. Filipponi and P. Lori, avvocati,
–        the Italian Government, by S. Fiorentino, acting as Agent, and by P. Passolunghi, procuratore dello Stato, and by L. Vignato, avvocata dello Stato,
–        the European Commission, by V. Bottka, C. Calvo Langdon and C. Molinari, acting as Agents,
having decided, after hearing the Advocate General, to proceed to judgment without an Opinion,
gives the following
Judgment
1        This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 2(1)(c) of Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014 concerning the application of Articles 107 and 108 [TFEU] to de minimis aid in the fishery and aquaculture sector (OJ 2014 L 209, p. 45), and of Article 5(d) and (g) of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1184/2006 and (EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 (OJ 2013 L 354, p. 1).
2        The request has been made in proceedings between Pescheria Il Granchio Blu di JC (‘Granchio Blu’) and the Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy (Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Italy) concerning the legality of two decrees by which that ministry had revoked the tax advantages previously granted to Granchio Blu.
Legal context
European Union law
Regulation No 1379/2013
3        Recital 29 of Regulation No 1379/2013 states:
‘Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States due to the common nature of the market in fishery and aquaculture products and can therefore, by reason of its scale and effects and the need for common action, be better achieved at [EU] level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 [TEU]. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve this objective.’
4        Article 1 of that regulation, entitled ‘Subject matter’, provides, in paragraph 1:
‘A common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products (CMO) is hereby established.’
5        Article 5 of that regulation, entitled ‘Definitions’, provides:
‘… The following definitions shall also apply:
…
(d)      “fishery and aquaculture sector” means the sector of the economy which comprises all activities of production, processing and marketing of fishery or aquaculture products;
(e)      “making available on the market” means any supply of a fishery or aquaculture product for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge;
(f)      “placing on the market” means the first making available of a fishery or aquaculture product on the Union market;
(g)      “retail” means the handling and/or processing of food and its storage at the point of sale or delivery to the final consumer, including distribution terminals, catering operations, factory canteens, institutional catering, restaurants and other similar food service operations, shops, supermarket distribution centres and wholesale outlets;
…’
6        Article 46 of Regulation No 1379/2013, entitled ‘Repeal’, provides:
‘[Council] Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 [of 17 December 1999 on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products (OJ 2000 L 17, p. 22),] is hereby repealed. However, Article 4 shall apply until 12 December 2014.
References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex IV.’
Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013
7        Recital 6 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 [TFEU] to de minimis aid (OJ 2013 L 352, p. 1), states:
‘In view of the special rules which apply in the sectors of primary production of agricultural products, fishery and aquaculture and of the risk that amounts of aid below the ceiling laid down in this Regulation could nonetheless fulfil the criteria in Article 107(1) [TFEU], this Regulation should not apply to those sectors.’
8        Article 1 of that regulation, entitled ‘Scope’, provides in paragraph 1(a) and (b) thereof:
‘This Regulation applies to aid granted to undertakings in all sectors, with the exception of:
(a)      aid granted to undertakings active in the fishery and aquaculture sector, as covered by [Regulation No 104/2000];
(b)      aid granted to undertakings active in the primary production of agricultural products’.
Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013
9        Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 [TFEU] to de minimis aid in the agriculture sector (OJ 2013 L 352, p. 9), entitled ‘Scope’, is worded as follows, in paragraph 1 thereof:
‘This Regulation applies to aid granted to undertakings active in the primary production of agricultural products, with the exception of:
(a)      aid the amount of which is fixed on the basis of the price or quantity of products put on the market;
(b)      aid to export-related activities towards third countries or Member States, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, to the establishment and operation of a distribution network or to other current expenditure linked to the export activity;
(c)      aid contingent upon the use of domestic over imported goods.’
Regulation No 717/2014
10      Article 1(1) of Regulation No 717/2014, entitled ‘Scope’, provides:
‘This Regulation applies to aid granted to undertakings active in the primary production of fishery and aquaculture products, with the following exceptions:
(a)      aid the amount of which is fixed on the basis of price or quantity of products purchased or put on the market;
(b)      aid granted to export-related activities towards third countries or Member States, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, to the establishment and operation of a distribution network or to other current expenditure linked to the export activity;
(c)      aid contingent upon the use of domestic over imported goods;
(d)      aid for the purchase of fishing vessels;
(e)      aid for the modernisation or replacement of main or ancillary engines of fishing vessels;
(f)      aid to operations increasing the fishing capacity of a vessel or equipment increasing the ability of a vessel to find fish;
(g)      aid for the construction of new fishing vessels or importation of fishing vessels;
(h)      aid to the temporary or permanent cessation of fishing activities unless specifically provided for in the Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 [of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2328/2003, (EC) No 861/2006, (EC) No 1198/2006 and (EC) No 791/2007 and Regulation (EU) No 1255/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ 2014 L 149, p. 1)];
(i)      aid to exploratory fishing;
(j)      aid to the transfer of ownership of a business;
(k)      aid to direct restocking, unless explicitly provided for as a conservation measure by a Union legal act or in the case of experimental restocking.’
11      Article 2(1) of Regulation No 717/2014, entitled ‘Definitions’, states:
‘For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:
(a)      “undertakings in the fishery and aquaculture sector” means undertakings active in the production, processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products;
(b)      “fishery and aquaculture products” means the products defined in Article 5(a) and (b) of Regulation [No 1379/2013];
(c)      “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.’
12      Article 3 of Regulation No 717/2014, entitled ‘De minimis aid’, provides in paragraph 1 thereof:
‘Aid measures shall be deemed not to meet all the criteria in Article 107(1) [TFEU], and shall therefore be exempt from the notification requirement in Article 108(3) [TFEU], if they fulfil the conditions laid down in this Regulation.’
Italian law
13      Article 46(7) of decreto-legge n. 50 – Disposizioni urgenti in materia finanziaria, iniziative a favore degli enti territoriali, ulteriori interventi per le zone colpite da eventi sismici e misure per lo sviluppo (Decree-Law No 50 on
urgent financial measures, initiatives to assist regional or local authorities, further action to support zones affected by seismic events, and development measures) of 24 April 2017 (GURI No 95 of 24 April 2017; ‘Decree-Law No 50/2017’) states:
‘The subsidies
referred to in this article shall be granted in accordance with
and within the limits of Regulation [No 1407/2013] and Regulation [No 1408/2013].’
The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling
14      Following the earthquakes which occurred in central Italy in 2016, Decree-Law No 50/2017 laid down
subsidies for certain undertakings active in the zones affected by those earthquakes. In particular, Article 46(7) of that decree-law provides that those subsidies are to be granted pursuant to and within the limits of Regulations No 1407/2013 and No 1408/2013.
15      Granchio Blu is a company incorporated under Italian law which engages in the retail sale of fish, crustaceans and molluscs in a supermarket located in one of those zones.
16      That company was granted subsidies for 2017 and 2019 under Decree-Law No 50/2017.
17      However, those subsidies were revoked by two ministerial decrees dated 11 January 2023 on the ground, in essence, that Granchio Blu was engaged in an economic activity which did not fall within the respective scopes of Regulations No 1407/2013 and No 1408/2013 and was therefore ineligible for those subsidies.
18      In that regard, the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy found that economic activities coming within the sector of production, processing and marketing of fishery products, including the retail sale of such products, came within the scope of Regulation No 717/2014.
19      Granchio Blu brought an action for annulment of the ministerial decrees revoking the subsidies from which it had benefited, before the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per le Marche (Regional Administrative Court, Marche, Italy). By judgment of 6 October 2023, that court dismissed that action.
20      Granchio Blu brought an appeal against that judgment before the Consiglio di Stato (Council of State, Italy), which is the referring court.
21      According to Granchio Blu, the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per le Marche (Regional Administrative Court, Marche) incorrectly considered that the mere activity of retail sale of fishery products, as a commercial activity, was covered by the concept of ‘processing and marketing’ of fishery and aquaculture products, within the meaning of Article 2(1)(c) of Regulation No 717/2014, as that concept does not, in its view, include the retail sale of those products to end consumers.
22      In that context, the referring court asks whether the retail trade in fish, crustaceans and molluscs is covered by the concept of ‘processing and marketing’ of fishery and aquaculture products within the meaning of that provision. If that activity were regarded as forming part of the fishery and aquaculture sector, Granchio Blu would not be able to benefit from the subsidies laid down
in Article 46(7) of Decree-Law No 50/2017. By contrast, if that activity were regarded as not falling within that sector, and therefore as not being excluded from the respective scopes of Regulations No 1407/2013 and No 1408/2013, Granchio Blu could be eligible to benefit from those subsidies.
23      In those circumstances, the Consiglio di Stato (Council of State) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:
‘(1)      Does the definition of “processing and marketing” in Article 2[1](c) of [Regulation No 717/2014] also include the activity of retail [trade in]
fishery products and is any exclusion [of that activity] 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 [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 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)?
(2)      Ultimately, is [Regulation No 717/2014] applicable to the activity of retail [trade in]
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 [No 717/2014], more persuasive)?
(3)      Does EU law preclude a national law which permits de minimis aid to be granted to undertakings which engage in the retail [trade in]
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?’
Consideration of the questions referred
The first and second questions
24      By its first and second questions, which it is appropriate to examine together, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 2(1)(c) of Regulation No 717/2014, read in the light of Article 5(d) and (g) of Regulation No 1379/2013, must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘processing and marketing’ of fishery and aquaculture products, defined in
Article 2(1)(c), includes the activity of retail trade in fishery products, with the result that that activity falls within the scope of Regulation No 717/2014.
25      As a preliminary point, it should be noted that it is for the Member States to decide whether to grant de minimis aid to certain undertakings or sectors of activity, provided that they comply with the relevant EU rules. In the present case, by adopting Decree-Law No 50/2017, the Italian Republic decided, following the earthquakes which affected the central part of Italy in 2016, to grant de minimis aid only to undertakings falling within the scope of Regulations No 1407/2013 and No1408/2013.
26      Bearing that in mind, it should be noted that the purpose of Regulation No 1407/2013 is to allow derogations, for State aid of a limited amount (de minimis), from the rule that all aid must, prior to implementation, be notified to the European Commission (see, to that effect, judgment of 28 October 2020, INAIL, C‑608/19, EU:C:2020:865, paragraph 26).
27      Article 1(1)(a) of that regulation excludes from its scope ‘aid granted to undertakings active in the fishery and aquaculture sector, as covered by [Regulation No 104/2000]’, it being specified that that regulation was repealed by Regulation No 1379/2013, Article 46 of which states that references to the former regulation are to be construed as references to the latter.
28      That exclusion is explained, as is apparent from recital 6 of Regulation No 1407/2013, by the fact that the fishery and aquaculture sector is governed by specific provisions applicable to it and by the risk that amounts of aid below the ceiling laid down by that regulation may nevertheless fulfil the criteria of Article 107(1) TFEU.
29      The ‘fishery and aquaculture sector’ is defined in Article 5(d) of Regulation No 1379/2013 as being the sector of the economy which ‘comprises all activities of production, processing and marketing of fishery or aquaculture products’.
30      In so far as the referring court asks whether the retail trade
in fishery products is covered by the concept of ‘marketing’ of such products, within the meaning of Article 5(d) of Regulation No 1379/2013, which is not defined in that regulation, it should be recalled that, according to settled case-law, the meaning and scope of terms for which EU law provides no definition must be determined by considering their usual meaning in everyday language, while also taking into account the context in which they occur and the purposes of the rules of which they are part (judgment of 13 June 2024, A GmbH & Co. KG, C‑104/23, EU:C:2024:504, paragraph 41 and the case-law cited).
31      In that regard, it should be noted, first of all, that, in its usual meaning in everyday language, the term ‘marketing’, where it is not accompanied by any detail, refers broadly to all the activities involved following the production and processing of a product until it is sold to the final consumer, including the retail trade in such products.
32      Next, as regards the context in which that term is used, it should be noted that Regulation No 1379/2013 also governs the ‘making available on the market’, ‘placing on the market’ and ‘retail’ [trade] in such products, as is apparent from Article 5(e) to (g) of that regulation. It follows that ‘undertakings active in the fishery and aquaculture sector, as covered by [Regulation No 1379/2013]’, within the meaning of Article 1(1)(a) of Regulation No 1407/2013, are also those which are active, inter alia, in the ‘retail’ [trade] in fishery products.
33      Lastly, it is apparent from Article 1 of Regulation No 1379/2013, read in the light of recital 29 thereof, that the objective pursued by that regulation is the establishment of a CMO in the fishery and aquaculture products sector. That objective would be compromised if certain stages in the fishery products distribution chain, namely the retail trade in such products, were to be excluded from that CMO.
34      In those circumstances, it must be held that the ‘fishery and aquaculture sector’, within the meaning of Regulation No 1379/2013, includes the marketing of fishery products, irrespective of whether wholesale or retail.
35      It follows that undertakings whose activity comprises the marketing of such products, including retail, do not fall within the scope of Regulation No 1407/2013, by virtue of Article 1(1)(a) thereof.
36      Nor do those undertakings come under Regulation No 1408/2013, Article 1 of which, entitled ‘Scope’, states that that regulation applies to aid granted to undertakings active in the primary production of agricultural products.
37      In contrast, it should be made clear that undertakings active in the fishery and aquaculture sector fall within the scope of Regulation No 717/2014, which lays down specific rules on de minimis aid applicable to that sector.
38      Article 1(1) of Regulation No 717/2014 establishes the scope of that regulation by specifying that it applies to aid granted to ‘undertakings in the fishery and aquaculture sector’, with the exception of aid expressly listed in that provision (see, to that effect, judgment of 27 January 2022, Sātiņi-S, C‑238/20, EU:C:2022:57, paragraph 55). However, none of those concern
‘retail’ [trade].
39      Article 2(1)(a) of that regulation defines ‘undertakings in the fishery and aquaculture sector’ as being those which operate ‘in the production, processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products’, without setting any limitation as to the type of marketing concerned.
40      In addition, under the wording of Article 2(1)(c) of that regulation, the concept of ‘processing and marketing’ is defined as being
‘all operations, including handling, treatment, production and distribution, performed between the time of landing or harvesting and the end-product stage’.
41      In so far as retail trade constitutes the final stage in the distribution of fishery products, taking place at ‘the end-product stage’
in the supply chain, it must be held that that type of trade falls within the scope of Regulation No 717/2014.
42      In the light of
the foregoing considerations, the answer to the first and second questions raised is that
Article 2(1)(c) of Regulation No 717/2014, read in the light of Article 5(d) and (g) of Regulation No 1379/2013, must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘processing and marketing’ of fishery and aquaculture products, defined in that Article 2(1)(c), includes the activity of retail trade
in fishery products, with the result that that activity falls within the scope of Regulation No 717/2014.
The third question
43      By its third question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether EU law must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which permits the grant of de minimis aid to undertakings engaged in the retail trade
in fishery products, which are eligible for such aid on the ground that they differ from industrial fishing undertakings and that they are situated in an urban free zone created to respond to the economic consequences of an earthquake.
44      According to settled case-law, the justification for a reference for a preliminary ruling is not that it enables advisory opinions on general or hypothetical questions to be delivered but rather that it is necessary for the effective resolution of a dispute (judgment of 22 January 2026, Herchoski, C‑902/24, EU:C:2026:42, paragraph 48 and the case-law cited).
45      In that regard, it should be borne in mind that, as is apparent from paragraphs 14 and 22 above, in accordance with Article 46(7) of Decree-Law No 50/2017, the subsidies for certain undertakings active in the zones affected by earthquakes are granted pursuant to and within the limits of Regulations No 1407/2013 and No 1408/2013.
46      As is apparent from the answer to the first and second questions, the retail trade
in fishery products falls within the scope of Regulation No 717/2014, and not within the respective scopes of Regulations No 1407/2013 and No 1408/2013.
47      In those circumstances, and as the referring court has not referred to any other national legislation from which it may be concluded that the Italian Republic had decided to grant the de minimis aid at issue in the main proceedings pursuant to and within the limits of Regulation No 717/2014, it must be stated that to answer the third question, in those circumstances, would clearly amount to providing an advisory opinion on a hypothetical question, in disregard of the task assigned to the Court in the context of the judicial cooperation established by Article 267 TFEU (see, to that effect, judgment of 22 February 2022, Stichting Rookpreventie Jeugd and Others, C‑160/20, EU:C:2022:101, paragraph 84).
48      Consequently, the third question is inadmissible.
Costs
49      Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.
On those grounds, the Court (Ninth Chamber) hereby rules:
Article 2(1)(c) of Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 [TFEU] to de minimis aid in the fishery and aquaculture sector, read in the light of Article 5(d) and (g) of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1184/2006 and (EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000
must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘processing and marketing’ of fishery and aquaculture products, defined in that Article 2(1)(c), includes the activity of retail trade in fishery products, with the result that that activity falls within the scope of Regulation No 717/2014.
[Signatures]
*      Language of the case: Italian.