Case T-781/22: Judgment of the General Court of 11 June 2025 – Madre Querida and Others v Commission (Common Fisheries Policy – Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2336 – Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1614 – Methods and criteria for determining areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur – Establishment of a list of areas where the presence of vulnerable marine ecosystems is proven or probable – Establishment of buffer zones – Plea of illegality – Proportionality)
Date: 2025-06-11
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: Atlantic Ocean, EU waters, catch by species, conservation of fish stocks, deep-sea fishing, equal treatment, fishing area, fishing rights, international waters, marine ecosystem, principle of proportionality, sea fish








C_202504150EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/4150


4.8.2025






Judgment of the General Court of 11 June 2025 – Madre Querida and Others v Commission


(Case T-781/22)
                (1)

(Common Fisheries Policy - Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2336 - Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1614 - Methods and criteria for determining areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur - Establishment of a list of areas where the presence of vulnerable marine ecosystems is proven or probable - Establishment of buffer zones - Plea of illegality - Proportionality)
(C/2025/4150)
Language of the case: French

Parties


Applicants: Madre Querida, SL (Burela, Spain) and the sixteen other applicants whose names are listed in the annex (represented by: Á. Givaja Sanz, A. Lamadrid de Pablo and V. Romero Algarra, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: A. Dawes and I. Galindo Martín, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the applicants: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: A. Gavela Llopis and J. Ruiz Sánchez, acting as Agents), Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia (represented by: Á. Givaja Sanz, A. Lamadrid de Pablo and V. Romero Algarra, lawyers)

Interveners in support of the defendant: European Parliament (represented by: I. Terwinghe, C. Ionescu Dima and C. Burgos, acting as Agents), Council of the European Union (represented by: L. Hamtcheva, F. Naert and G. Rugge, acting as Agents)

Re:

By their action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicants seek, in essence, the annulment of Article 2 of and Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1614 of 15 September 2022 determining the existing deep-sea fishing areas and establishing a list of areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur (OJ 2022 L 242, p. 1).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the action;










2.


Orders Madre Querida, SL and the other applicants whose names are listed in the annex to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;










3.


Orders the Kingdom of Spain, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia (Autonomous Community of Galicia, Spain) to bear their own costs.






(1)  
            OJ C 45, 6.2.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/4150/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)