OREANDA-NEWS. On 31 July 2013, Överumans Fisk AB, the fully owned subsidiary of AS Premia Foods, filed a claim of compensation of damage and loss of profit against the Swedish Board of Agriculture (in Swedish: Jordbruksverket) in connection with the administrative proceedings initiated against Överumans Fisk AB in May 2012 resulting in the destruction of 17 tons of fish fingerlings.

On 25 November 2013, the Swedish Board of Agriculture decided that the claim of compensation of damage of Överumans Fisk AB is justified and that there are legal grounds for satisfying the claim of compensation of damage and loss of profit.

On 17 December 2013, the Swedish Board of Agriculture decided to make an advance payment to Överumans Fisk AB in the amount of SEK 4,000,000 (approximately 0.5 million euro). The payment was received by Överumans Fisk AB on 19 December 2013.

On 19 June 2014, the Swedish Board of Agriculture decided to pay SEK 6,727,636 (approximately 0.7 million euro) to Överumans Fisk AB as an additional compensation. According to the resolution, the additional part of the compensation will be paid to Överumans Fisk AB within 14 days as of adopting the resolution. The resolution in the Swedish language was forwarded to the representatives of Överumans Fisk AB in the afternoon of 19 June 2014, therefore, AS Premia Foods will be able to disclose more detailed information about the grounds for the decision immediately after the completion of the formal translation.

According to Katre Kõvask, the Chairman of the Management Board of AS Premia Foods, it was an extraordinary case for Sweden and for the whole fish farming industry in Sweden. “In May of 2012, when the Swedish Board of Agriculture adopted its resolution, the probability of filing a claim and seeking for compensation was very small, as there has never been a similar case in Sweden. The fact that today there is a resolution for allocating 1.2 million euro as compensation is the result of a complex and time-consuming process and we have also created a precedent in the Swedish fish farming industry. Ensuring the unrestricted operation of the fish farms of Överumans Fisk, which has now been achieved, was equally important to Premia as was receiving the compensation,” she added.