Case T-342/24: Action brought on 5 July 2024 – Coalition Clean Baltic v Council
Date: 2024-07-05
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: Baltic Sea, abuse of power, catch by species, catch quota, conservation of fish stocks, fishing area, fishing rights, sea fish, sea fishing, ship's flag








C_202405113EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5113


26.8.2024






Action brought on 5 July 2024 – Coalition Clean Baltic v Council


(Case T-342/24)

(C/2024/5113)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: Coalition Clean Baltic (Uppsala, Sweden) (represented by: C. Ziegler, lawyer)

Defendant: Council of the European Union

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






—


annul the decision dated 25 April 2024 of the Council of the European Union in relation to the request for internal review under Title IV of the Aarhus Regulation in relation to Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2638 of 20 November 2023 fixing the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea for 2024 and amending Regulation (EU) 2023/194 as regards certain fishing opportunities in other waters (OJ L 2023/2638);










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order the Council to bear its own costs and pay those incurred by the applicant.





Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on three pleas in law.






1.


First plea in law, alleging manifest errors of law and of assessment as regards the scope of the applicant’s access to review rights under the Aarhus Regulation, (1) due to the Council having found that the applicant’s pleas that the Council (i) violated the principle of sincere cooperation under Article 4(3) TEU (infringement of the Treaties pursuant to Article 263, paragraph 2, 2nd limb, TFEU); (ii) misused its powers in adopting Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2638 (misuse of powers pursuant to Article 263, paragraph 2, 4th limb, TFEU); and (iii) lacked competence (Article 263, paragraph 2, 1st limb, TFEU), to adopt Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2638, were inadmissible for falling outside the scope of Article 10 of the Aarhus Regulation.










2.


Second plea in law, alleging manifest errors of law and of assessment due to the Council’s failure to review Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2638, although, in having adopted it, it violated fisheries and environmental rules laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 (2) and in Regulation (EU) 2016/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016, (3) as well as its obligation to sincere cooperation under Article 4(3) TEU, in particular:






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first limb: direct violation of the limit value set in Article 4(6) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1139;










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second limb, manifest errors of law and of assessment and exceedance of the bounds of the Council’s discretion by total allowable catches for Bothnian and Central Baltic herring being set in violation of the Maximum Sustainable Yield obligation under Articles 2(2) and 16(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1139;










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third limb, manifest error of law and of assessment and exceedance of the bounds of the Council’s discretion due to failure to set the total allowable catches for Bothnian and Central Baltic herring in line with the precautionary approach to fisheries management under Articles 16(4) and 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;










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fourth limb, manifest error of law and of assessment and exceedance of the bounds of the Council’s discretion because the setting of the total allowable catches for Bothnian and Central Baltic herring as well as for sprat violates the obligation to implement an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management under Article 2(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and Article 3(3) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/1139, the principle of sincere cooperation under Article 4(3) TEU and, in parallel, jeopardises the effet utile of the Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008, (4) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992
                               (5) and Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009
                               (6) (all as amended); and










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fifth limb, manifest error of assessment and exceedance of the bounds of the Council’s discretion due to failure to take sufficient and appropriate remedial measures under Article 5(1) and (2), as well as 5(4) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1139.














3.


Third plea in law, alleging manifest errors of law and of assessment due to the Council’s failure to review Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2638, although, in having adopted it, it (i) misused its powers (misuse of powers pursuant to Article 263, pargraph 2, 4th limb, TFEU) under Article 16(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, by using them to set total allowable catches based on objectives other than those recognised under Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013; and (ii) disregarded essential elements of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and of Regulation (EU) 2016/1139, and it had thus adopted it despite a lack of competence (Article 263, second paragraph, 1st limb, TFEU).






(1)  Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies (OJ 2006 L 264, p. 13).

(2)  Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1954/2003 and (EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and Council Decision 2004/585/EC (OJ 2013 L 354, p. 22).

(3)  Regulation (EU) 2016/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016 establishing a multiannual plan for the stocks of cod, herring and sprat in the Baltic Sea and the fisheries exploiting those stocks, amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2187/2005 and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1098/2007 (OJ 2016 L 191, p. 1).

(4)  Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive) (OJ 2008 L 164, p. 19).

(5)  Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ 1992 L 206, p. 7).

(6)  Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds (Codified version) (OJ 2010 L 20, p. 7).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5113/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)