Case T-417/25: Application brought on 30 June 2025 – Republic of Finland v Commission
Date: 2025-06-30
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: Baltic Sea, EU waters, catch area, catch by species, catch quota, fishing rights, sea fish, sea fishing, ship's flag








C_202505465EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/5465


20.10.2025






Application brought on 30 June 2025 – Republic of Finland v Commission


(Case T-417/25)

(C/2025/5465)
Language of the case: Finnish

Parties


Applicant: Republic of Finland (represented by: H. Leppo and M. Pere, acting as Agents)

Defendant: European Commission

Forms of order sought

The applicant claims that the General Court should:






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annul Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/864 of 30 April 2025 operating deduction from the Atlantic salmon fishing quota allocated to Finland in 2025 on account of overfishing in 2024 (OJ L 2025/864, 6.5.2025),










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order the Commission to pay the costs of the proceedings incurred by the Republic of Finland.





Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of its action, the applicant relies on a single plea in law.
The applicant considers that the Commission infringed Article 105(1) and (2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy (1), the provisions of Table 8 of the Annex to Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2638 fixing the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea for 2024 (2), and Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 on the conservation of fisheries resources and the protection of marine ecosystems through technical measures (3), when, by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/864, it operated deduction of the fishing quota for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) allocated to Finland for 2025 under Regulation (EU) 2024/2903.
The applicant submits, primarily, that the Commission operated deduction of Finland’s fishing quota for 2025, contrary to Article 105 of Regulation No 1224/2009, as Finland did not exceed its fishing quota in 2024. Article 105(1) of Regulation 1224/2009 gives the Commission the power to operate deductions from a Member State’s future quotas only if that State has exceeded the quotas allocated to it. That provision does not permit deductions from quotas where there is a disagreement between the Commission and a Member State as to whether the fishing operations carried out in that Member State are scientific fishing operations carried out in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 25 of Regulation 2019/1241, for the purposes of Table 8 of the Annex to Regulation 2023/2638.
In the alternative, should the General Court consider that Article 105 of Regulation 1224/2009 may also be applied where the Commission takes the view that the derogation relating to scientific fishing under Regulation 2023/2638 does not apply to fishing carried out in a Member State, contrary to the opinion of that Member State, the applicant submits that it has not infringed that derogation. The scientific fishing operations for salmon carried out by Finland in 2024 complied with the conditions laid down in Article 25 of Regulation 2019/1241, so the derogation referred to in the second indent of footnote 2 to Table 8 in the Annex to Regulation 2023/2638 was applicable. The deduction of the fishing quota allocated to Finland for 2025 is therefore contrary to EU law.


(1)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy, amending Regulations (EC) No 847/96, (EC) No 2371/2002, (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 2115/2005, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) No 509/2007, (EC) No 676/2007, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 1300/2008, (EC) No 1342/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1627/94 and (EC) No 1966/2006 (OJ 2009 L 343, p. 1).

(2)  . 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, 22.11.2023).

(3)  Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the conservation of fisheries resources and the protection of marine ecosystems through technical measures, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1967/2006, (EC) No 1224/2009 and Regulations (EU) No 1380/2013, (EU) 2016/1139, (EU) 2018/973, (EU) 2019/472 and (EU) 2019/1022 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 894/97, (EC) No 850/98, (EC) No 2549/2000, (EC) No 254/2002, (EC) No 812/2004 and (EC) No 2187/2005 (OJ 2019 L 198, p. 105).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5465/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)