(LUXEMBOURG) - The Polish government has lodged a request with the European Court of First Instance to annul a contested EU ban on cod fishing in the Baltic, the tribunal said Wednesday.

The Luxembourg-based court will need about 20 months before it is able to hand down a ruling in the case, a spokesman said.

The European Commission has ordered a ban on Polish fishermen from catching cod in the Baltic after finding that they had already met their quota for the year.

However, the Polish government, which faces elections next week, has resisted pressure from Brussels to enforce the ban and has refused to punish fishermen who ignore it.

Poland argues that the European Commission wrongly calculated the amount of cod caught by Polish fisherman in the Baltic and that they had not fulfilled their quota.

Poland has a fleet of 430 trawlers fishing for cod in the Baltic, employing 5,000 people on board and in the onshore processing industry.

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