EFTA Court examines Iceland fish farming licences after eight-year complaint delay

The EFTA Court has been asked to rule on the EFTA Surveillance Authority’s failure to take a position on a 2018 complaint about Iceland’s application of the EIA Directive to temporary licences for intensive coastal fish farming. The action, registered as Case E-12/26, was brought on 4 July 2026 by the Icelandic Nature Conservation Association and 11 other applicants, and is announced in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series, of 17 September 2026 (C/2026/4898).

An eight-year complaint left unresolved

The applicants — the Icelandic Nature Conservation Association (Náttúruverndarsamtök Íslands) and 11 other associations and individuals in Iceland — lodged a complaint with the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) on 29 November 2018. They alleged incorrect implementation and application of Directive 2011/92/EU (the EIA Directive) in the granting of temporary licences to intensive fish farming in the coastal waters of Iceland. The complaint was registered as ESA Case No 82819.

ESA informed the Icelandic Government of the complaint on 4 December 2018 and sent a request for information on 7 December 2018. After the applicants submitted an Article 37(3) letter on 18 November 2021, ESA issued a Letter of Formal Notice on 15 December 2021. The complaint has therefore remained without a final ESA position for more than seven years, spanning three separate Article 37(3) letters from the applicants.

Legislative change and the pre-closure letter

Further correspondence followed between ESA and the Icelandic Government, and the Icelandic Parliament adopted amendments to the relevant national legislation, which entered into force on 1 July 2023. On 12 March 2024 ESA issued a Pre-Closure letter stating that the Icelandic legal framework for granting temporary licences appeared to be in accordance with EEA law.

The applicants did not accept that outcome. They submitted a second Article 37(3) letter on 22 August 2025 and a third on 6 March 2026, calling upon ESA to act without delay, conclude its investigation and define its position on Case No 82819.

What the court is asked to decide

The applicants, represented by Sif Konráðsdóttir, Supreme Court Attorney, of Síðumúla 34, Reykjavík, Iceland, ask the EFTA Court to:

• Declare that ESA has infringed Article 37(1) of the Agreement between the EFTA States on the Establishment of a Surveillance Authority and a Court of Justice by failing to act on its duty to define its position on the complaint;
• Order ESA to bear the costs.

The applicants contend that ESA has failed to define its position on the complaint concerning the incorrect implementation of Directive 2011/92/EU in regard to the granting of temporary licences to intensive fish farming in the coastal waters of Iceland.

Why it matters

The case tests how quickly the EFTA Surveillance Authority must respond to environmental complaints and whether the 2023 Icelandic legislative amendments settled the EIA questions first raised in 2018. A ruling in favour of the applicants would push ESA to conclude Case No 82819 and could reopen scrutiny of Iceland’s aquaculture licensing regime, with consequences for environmental oversight across the European Economic Area.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/4898, 17 September 2026 (official reference: C/2026/4898).