In its judgment of 4 February 2026 in Case T-127/21 RENV, the General Court annulled the challenged decision on the grounds that it had been adopted by a Commission official lacking the requisite competence. The General Court held that such a decision should have been adopted by the College of Commissioners. It stressed that “legal persons concerned by the decisions which the Commission is called upon to adopt are entitled to expect that those decisions will be deliberated on by that college” when they involve “examination of complex factual issues and (…) the exercise of discretion”.

The case follows an earlier victory for Swissgrid before the Court of Justice of the European Union. In its judgment of 13 February 2025 in Case C-121/23 P, the Court of Justice set aside the General Court’s previous ruling, holding that the Commission’s exclusion decision was capable of producing binding legal effects and was therefore subject to judicial review. The Court of Justice referred the case back to the General Court, which has now confirmed that the Commission’s decision cannot stand.

Switzerland lies at the geographical centre of the continental European electricity grid, with substantial volumes of cross-border electricity physically flowing through its network. Reflecting that central role, Swissgrid has for many years cooperated closely with EU TSOs in several European electricity balancing platforms, some of which it co-founded. The General Court has now annulled the Commission’s decision requiring EU TSOs to exclude Swissgrid from those platforms.

Swissgrid was represented by Philippe De Baere, Amirsalar Kavoosi, Peter L’Ecluse, Valérie Lefever, and Koen T’Syen.