Friday 2 May finally saw the announcement of the Court decision over the ‘sandeels dispute’ between the EU and UK. But why might such a little (slippery) thing as a sandeel hold such significance?  

For those not familiar with the background and why the ban and this resulting decision are important, you can read more here.

The decision by the UK to restrict fishing of sandeels in some of its waters did not go down well with some EU member states. This led the EU to trigger the post Brexit dispute mechanism (under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement) for the first, and currently only, time. Now over a year since the EU put the complaint in and it went to tribunal the announcement is being hailed as victory – by both sides!

See both the European Commission and UK Government press releases for their somewhat partial interpretation of the Arbitration Panel’s findings. The ruling could be interpreted as a way for both sides to ‘save face’ and claim victory on a particularly thorny area of policy, particularly when both sides are looking to improve diplomatic relations at a time when wider strategic (read: defence and security) issues are at stake. Most would however read the ruling on a series of points as largely in favour of the UK, and most importantly for the environment, meaning the ban on sandeel fishing in UK waters remains in place. In not so legal terms though, the UK, and specifically England, was found wanting in the way it went about this ban and it will have 30 days to address such shortcomings. 

However, what precedent this sets for any future fishing restrictions the UK might make on environmental grounds and whether this issue gets caught up in the net (pun intended!) of UK-EU reset discussions from the 19 May, which is likely to touch on fishing rights, remains to be seen.

Ben Reynolds, Executive Director of IEEP UK, commented:
“The decision of the tribunal is welcome news for the environment, and for the finding that there is no legal obligation to reverse the closures despite the procedural error being found in the English case. This is one of only a handful of issues where the UK has used its post-Brexit powers to go further than the EU on tightening up protection of the environment”.

“With the UK-EU reset discussions kicking off in a matter of weeks, and fishing rights high on the EU’s agenda, these findings come at a difficult and sensitive moment but hopefully both sides can move past this quickly to strike ambitious agreements on the environment and climate, such as around chemicals, product standards, emissions trading and the sharing of environmental data and information”.

For more read the coverage in:
Politico – https://lnkd.in/e-SNizYs
Guardian – https://lnkd.in/eFCQQzeV
Financial Times – https://lnkd.in/eRsEMhcV
ENDS – https://lnkd.in/eb2TMYRz

Photo by Knut Troim on Unsplash