#62021TO0427General Court Order: Trasta Komercbanka v ECB – Non-Contractual Liability for Withdrawal of Banking Authorisation (Case T-427/21)

On 23 March 2026, the General Court of the European Union (Eighth Chamber) issued an order dismissing as manifestly unfounded in law the action brought by Trasta Komercbanka AS, a Latvian credit institution, against the European Central Bank (ECB). The case arose from the ECB's decision to withdraw Trasta Komercbanka's banking authorisation, which led to the bank's insolvency and liquidation. The applicant sought compensation for material damages allegedly caused by that supervisory decision. The Court examined whether the ECB could be held non-contractually liable under EU law for the damage resulting from its exercise of specific supervisory tasks conferred upon it under the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) framework. The applicant argued that the ECB's decision to revoke the licence was unlawful and directly caused substantial financial harm to the institution and its stakeholders. The General Court found that the action lacked any valid legal foundation, concluding that the necessary conditions for non-contractual liability — namely an unlawful act, actual damage, and a direct causal link between the two — had not been sufficiently established by the applicant. The Court determined that no sufficiently serious breach of EU law by the ECB was demonstrated. The order confirms the high threshold required to successfully challenge ECB prudential supervisory decisions before EU courts and reaffirms the limited scope of non-contractual liability in the field of economic and monetary policy supervision.

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