What is the European Ocean Pact?
The European Commission adopted the European Ocean Pact on 5 June 2025 as a comprehensive strategy to better protect the ocean, promote a thriving blue economy and support the well-being of people living in coastal areas. The Pact brings together EU ocean policies under one single reference framework. It is built around six strategic priorities: restoring ocean health, strengthening the EU’s sustainable blue economy, supporting coastal and outermost regions, advancing ocean research and innovation, enhancing maritime security, and promoting global ocean governance.
The Pact also set up its own governance. The Commission committed to a high-level Ocean Board, bringing together representatives from various ocean-related sectors to guide the Pact’s implementation, and an EU Ocean Pact dashboard to track progress towards its objectives. A year on, the Ocean Board has been established and a prototype of the dashboard tested, with the dashboard due to be fully operational by the end of the year.
As a strategy, the Pact guides EU action and funding, but it does not on its own create new legal obligations for Member States. That is where the Act comes in.
What is the European Ocean Act?
The Ocean Act is the legislative follow-up to the Pact. When the Pact was adopted, the Commission said it would present an Ocean Act by 2027 to achieve the Pact’s targets. That timeline has since moved forward: according to its Work Programme 2026, the Commission plans to adopt the legislative proposal by the end of 2026.
The Act is intended to serve as a single point of reference for all economic, climate, environmental and social targets adopted at Union level to protect and sustainably use ocean resources. It will build on the revision of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, structure the governance of the European Ocean Observation System, and simplify reporting obligations in EU ocean policies. It will also establish a legal basis for OceanEye, the initiative designed to monitor the ocean at European level.
Stakeholders have already had their say. A public consultation ran from 23 April to 16 July 2026, following an earlier call for evidence in January. Once the Commission presents its proposal, it goes to the European Parliament and the Council, so the Act becomes law only once they have agreed on it.
The difference at a glance
| European Ocean Pact | European Ocean Act | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A strategy (Commission Communication) | A legislative proposal |
| Legal effect | Sets priorities and direction | Binding rules once adopted |
| Timing | Adopted 5 June 2025 | Proposal expected by end of 2026 |
| Role | Defines six priorities, the Ocean Board and the dashboard | Puts the Pact’s targets into law |
Why it matters for the Baltic Sea
The Baltic is shared by eight EU Member States, and its ecosystems don’t follow national borders. How the Act handles maritime spatial planning, marine protected areas and ocean observation will shape how well countries around the Baltic can plan and protect the sea together. Practitioners are already weighing in: the MPA Community Network, which SUBMARINER is part of through the Blue4All project, has set out what the Act should change for marine protected areas. https://submariner-network.eu/european-ocean-act-connect-what-already-works-for-marine-protected-areas/
