High Court ruling seals fishermen's address at Royal Greenland's offices

On March 19, 2026, the Greenland High Court issued a ruling, in which Royal Greenland was fined a total of DKK 135,000 for a number of violations of the manning regulations. The case was appealed from a decision in the Court of Greenland in February 2025.

In both cases, the court had access to manning lists and CPR addresses for fishermen and officers on board Royal Greenland's ships, and a specific address was repeated for three different people - two Faroese officers and a Greenlandic fisherman:

They were registered at Qasapi 4, 3900 in Nuuk, where Royal Greenland is located.

And the latest ruling in the High Court establishes that the fishing company's offices are considered a valid address in Greenland for these people in relation to the manning regulations.

Accepted by the population register

When the case was initially heard in 2025, the Court of Greenland assumed that Qasapi 4 was a pro forma address. No one lives at the address, and it is not approved for habitation.

However, in the recent appeal case, the Greenland High Court found that it is more important that the authorities themselves treated Royal Greenland's offices as a valid address. As stated in the judgment:

– It must be assumed that the address Qasapi 4, where Royal Greenland has its headquarters in Nuuk, has in a number of cases been registered as a population register address for crew members, and that this has been accepted by both the population register in Sermersooq Municipality and by GFJK (Greenland Fisheries and Hunting Control, ed.).

The High Court's acceptance of Qasapi 4 as a national registry address had a decisive effect on a single aspect of the case, as a Faroese mate was now among the resident officers on a particular fishing trip. This raised the proportion above the required 60 percent and thus led to Royal Greenland being acquitted in the matter.

Still unknown extent

From the current trial, we are only aware of three people, two Faroese officers and a Greenlandic fisherman.

However, the Chief of Staff for Internal Services in Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq has stated as a witness in the case that this practice of proforma addresses at Royal Greenland dates back to before her time in the position, which she took up in 2016. She has made Royal Greenland aware along the way that Qasapi 4 was not a legal address, she said.

Read the other articles in the case to hear more about what Royal Greenland and Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq have to say about it all today.

The first judgment in the case from the Court of Greenland in February 2025 was not mentioned in Sermitsiaq at the time, as we did not know that the judgment existed. We do not receive court lists from the Court of Greenland.