ACOM challenges spanish government resolution in court and denounces selective and discriminatory treatment against Israel

ACOM requests the annulment of the resolution of 10 February 2026 on the grounds that the Government of Spain has improperly used a European Union technical tool to convert it into a national import ban, without a complete and sufficient administrative file, and with a clear selective bias against the State of Israel.

This challenge forms part of the judicial action already initiated by ACOM. In January 2026, the National Court (Audiencia Nacional) admitted for processing the contentious-administrative appeal filed by the association against the original AEAT resolution of 23 December 2025. Now, in light of the new resolution of 10 February that replaces the previous one, ACOM is expanding and strengthening its legal action to secure the annulment of this discriminatory measure.

ACOM has filed a contentious-administrative lawsuit against the Resolution of 10 February 2026 issued by the Presidency of the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT). This resolution repeals the one dated 23 December 2025 and approves a new list of localities and postal codes to implement the import prohibition set out in Article 3.2 of Royal Decree-Law 10/2025 of 23 September, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on 12 February 2026.

The lawsuit argues that the resolution is illegal, first and foremost, because it encroaches on the European Union’s exclusive competences in the areas of the customs union and the common commercial policy. In ACOM’s view, a national body cannot unilaterally transform an EU system for verifying origin and tariff treatment into a Spanish measure that selectively excludes certain products from the market and targets Israel.

Secondly, ACOM strongly denounces that the Government has applied selective and discriminatory treatment to Israel. The resolution does not merely manage a technical customs control; it converts an administrative list into an instrument specifically targeting certain localities linked to Israel and imposes a unique and more burdensome regime that is not applied to other comparable situations.

The lawsuit further explains that the European list on which the resolution relies was designed for a completely different purpose: to determine whether certain products qualify for preferential tariff treatment and, where appropriate, to require additional verification of origin. ACOM maintains that this tool was never intended to serve as the basis for a national import prohibition. By using it for that purpose, the Spanish authorities are distorting the European system and departing from the EU legal framework, as confirmed by the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Brita case (C-386/08), Organisation juive européenne and Vignoble Psagot (C-363/18), and Confédération paysanne (C-399/22).

ACOM also denounces a serious deficiency in both the administrative file and the statement of reasons. After receiving the file, the association formally requested its completion in order to obtain the proposal used, the methodology followed to compile and refine the list, the identification of the body that carried out the final validation, and the technical or legal reports that justified replacing the previous resolution. The Administration’s response confirmed, however, that the formal proposal was not included in the file of the 10 February 2026 resolution but rather in the file of the 23 December 2025 resolution. The Administration further stated that no other documents, reports, opinions, or additional background existed to support the challenged resolution. For ACOM, this demonstrates that the measure was adopted without a complete, self-sufficient, and transparent administrative record. Moreover, the approved annex contains duplications and internal technical anomalies that reveal a lack of rigour in its preparation.

For all these reasons, ACOM asks the Court to annul the resolution of 10 February 2026 and its annex, and to incorporate the complete file of the 23 December 2025 resolution, as it constitutes the immediate predecessor and the basis of the resolution now under challenge.

“It is not possible, through administrative means, to convert a European tool for controlling origin and tariff treatment into a Spanish import ban selectively directed against Israel. When, in addition, the Administration itself acknowledges that part of the decisive documentary basis lies in another file and that no further supporting reports exist, the illegality of the resolution becomes even more evident. This measure constitutes yet another attempt to apply discriminatory treatment to the State of Israel — a practice that ACOM will always reject, using every legal instrument at its disposal, in defence of equality and against all forms of discrimination.”

— Angel Mas, President of ACOM.