The Supreme Court ruling (STS 3705/2025, of 17 July, rec. 8773/2021) puts an end to one of the most significant disputes over the continuity of the ENCE factory in Pontevedra.

The Court has upheld the appeals filed by the company, workers' committees and other entities, and revokes the 2021 ruling of the National Court, which had annulled the extension of the concession granted in 2016 at the request of the Association for the Defence of the Pontevedra Estuary.

The Supreme Court establishes an important doctrine, ruling that concessions granted on the basis of rights prior to the entry into force of the 1988 Coastal Law and in accordance with its transitional regime are entitled to an extension of up to seventy-five years, calculated from the date on which such extension was granted, maintaining the same regime of use and activity that they enjoyed prior to the LC, but with the limitation that such extensions are conditional upon the granting of a favourable report, without being conditioned by Article 32 of the Coastal Law, which limits the occupation of public property to activities that cannot be located elsewhere.

This ruling lays the foundations for the continuity of economic and social activities carried out on the Spanish coast.