Oversight & ethics enforcementEnvironment & land
Ombudsman finds Iceland's Ministry of Food and Agriculture violated administrative law in processing a fin-whale hunting license
Confidence: Confirmed · 1 sourceIceland · Oct 12, 2026
Subject of this story
Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Matvælaráðuneytið)
Also named
Oversight
Parliamentary Ombudsman of Iceland (Umboðsmaður Alþingis)
What happened
On 14 January 2026 Iceland's Parliamentary Ombudsman published a formal opinion finding that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture's handling of an application for a fin-whale hunting license was not conducted in accordance with law. The ombudsman found the ministry's decision to limit the license's validity was based on neither a sufficiently comprehensive assessment nor the principle of proportionality, and that the ministry failed to comply with the administrative-law requirement of timely processing, including delaying its legally required request for an opinion from the Marine Research Institute.
Sources (1)
Umboðsmaður Alþingis (Parliamentary Ombudsman of Iceland)Málsmeðferð matvælaráðuneytisins á umsókn um leyfi til hvalveiða var ekki í samræmi við lög, m.a. hvað varðar meðalhóf og málshraða.
Response
Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Matvælaráðuneytið)
No response by publication
Contacted — no response by publication.
What happened next (0)
No outcome recorded yet.