Case T-712/25: Action brought on 15 October 2025 – Black Sea Oil & Gas v Commission
Date: 2025-10-15
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: carbon neutrality, clean technology, equal treatment, gas industry, industrial pollution, oil industry, polluter pays principle, principle of legal certainty, retroactivity of a law, right to property








C_202506635EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/6635


22.12.2025






Action brought on 15 October 2025 – Black Sea Oil & Gas v Commission


(Case T-712/25)

(C/2025/6635)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: Black Sea Oil & Gas SA (Bucharest, Romania) (represented by: A.-R. Pop and O.-A. Ijdelea, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






—


annul Decision (EU) 2025/1479 of 22 May 2025 (the ‘Decision’) (1) and the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1477 of 21 May 2025 (‘Delegated Regulation’) (2) in whole or in part;










—


declare Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 on the Net-Zero Industry Act (‘NZIA’) (3) inapplicable in part;










—


order the Commission to bear its own costs and pay the applicant’s costs before this Court.





Pleas in law and main arguments

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






1.


First plea in law, alleging violation of Article 290 TFUE on grounds that the Delegated Regulation regulates ultra vires.










2.


Second plea in law, alleging violation of Article 5(4) TEU, Article 5 of Protocol (No 2) to the TEU, Article 44 of NZIA and Articles 12 to 15 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making (4) on grounds of procedural errors in adoption of the acts.










3.


Third plea in law, alleging violation of Articles 5(1) and 5(2) TEU on grounds that the NZIA was adopted on an erroneous legal basis.










4.


Fourth plea in law, alleging violation of Article 5 of Protocol (No 2) to the TEU and of the Interinstitutional Agreement by failure to assess impact on producers.










5.


Fifth plea in law, alleging violation of Article 34 TFEU, of Articles 20 to 21 of Charter of Fundamental Rights (‘Charter’) and of Article 192(1) TFEU by breach of the principles of equal treatment and fair competition and of the polluters pay principle.










6.


Sixth plea in law alleging violation of Article 3(3) TEU on sustainable development.










7.


Seventh plea in law alleging violation of Articles 15, 16 and 17 of the Charter on freedom to conduct a business and the right to property.










8.


Eighth plea in law alleging violation of Article 19 of the Interinstitutional Agreement.










9.


Ninth plea in law, alleging violation of the principle of non-retroactivity and of the principle of legal certainty.










10.


Tenth plea in law alleging violation of Article 290 TFEU by Articles 12(12) and 44 of the NZIA.






(1)  Commission Decision (EU) 2025/1479 of 22 May 2025 specifying the pro rata contributions to the Union CO2 injection capacity objective by 2030 from entities holding an authorisation as defined in Article 1, point 3, of Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 2025/1479).

(2)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1477 of 21 May 2025 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the rules on the identification of authorised oil and gas producers who are required to contribute to the objective of reaching the Union target for available CO2 injection capacity by 2030, on the calculation of their respective contributions, and on their reporting obligations (OJ L 2025/1477).

(3)  Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology manufacturing ecosystem and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 (OJ L 2024/1735).

(4)  Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016, SWD(2021) 305 final, Commission Staff Working Document Better Regulation Guidelines.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/6635/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)