{"id":103324,"date":"2021-01-28T00:01:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T23:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=103324"},"modified":"2021-04-21T13:57:08","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T11:57:08","slug":"eu-air-pollution-rules-for-large-combustion-plants-remain-valid-european-court-of-justice-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/eu-air-pollution-rules-for-large-combustion-plants-remain-valid-european-court-of-justice-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"EU air pollution rules for Large Combustion Plants remain valid, European Court of Justice rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0<\/span><\/span>EU\u2019s new air pollution limits<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>which could save more than 20,000 lives every year by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>cutting\u00a0<\/span><\/span>pollution from coal-fired power plants alone, were\u00a0<\/span><\/span>annulled today by the judges of Luxemburg due to voting formalities<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>However,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span><\/span>he<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>C<\/span><\/span>ourt\u00a0<\/span><\/span>clarified that the current\u00a0<\/span><\/span>standards are<\/span><\/span>\u00a0still in force<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>[1]<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>The ruling cannot be used by governments and industry as an excuse to dodge<\/span><\/span>\u00a0emission limits, the EEB warns<\/span><\/span>\u00a0[2]<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Christian Schaible,\u00a0<\/b>the EEB policy manager who participated in the six years negotiations that led to the approval of the standards,\u00a0said:\u201cThe\u00a0Court decision does not change the substance: the EU air pollution rules are still\u00a0valid, and we expect\u00a0industries to comply with those\u00a0by the\u00a0deadline. The clock is\u00a0ticking, it\u2019s time for Poland and other lignite addict\u00a0governments\u00a0to stop playing with people\u2019s health and curb toxic emissions.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The case was initiated\u00a0<\/span>in October 2017\u00a0<\/span>by the government of Poland, supported by Hungary and\u00a0<\/span>Bulgaria<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>who contested the validity\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>emission l<\/span>imits for dangerous pollutants such as\u00a0<\/span>nitrogen oxides (NOx), mercury (Hg) and hydrogen chloride (HCl)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>by claiming they had been agreed<\/span>\u00a0by member states<\/span>\u00a0following an inadequate<\/span>\u00a0voting procedure<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The European Court of <\/span>J<\/span>ustice has now <\/span>annulled the standards on a procedural ground while\u00a0<\/span>confirming\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>they will\u00a0<\/span>remain valid until new standards\u00a0<\/span>are voted<\/span>, as \u201c<\/span>the annulment of the contested decision with immediate effect would run counter to the objectives of<\/span>\u00a0ensuring a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of environmental quality\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As from today, t<\/span>he\u00a0<\/span>European Commission<\/span>\u00a0has 12 months to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>submit\u00a0<\/span>a new\u00a0<\/span>d<\/span>raft<\/span>\u00a0of the standards<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to member states\u00a0<\/span>for\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>second vote<\/span>, while t<\/span>he deadline for\u00a0<\/span>operators<\/span>\u00a0to comply with the air<\/span>\u00a0pollution<\/span>\u00a0rules included in the Large Combustion Plants Best Available Techniques Reference Document (LCP BREF) is still set to\u00a0<\/span>17<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>August 2021<\/span>\u00a0the latest<\/span>\u00a0[<\/span>3<\/span>]<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0<\/span>JUDGMENT OF THE GENERAL COURT, Case T699\/17, 27\u202fJanuary 2021\u202f<\/span>http:\/\/curia.europa.eu\/juris\/document\/document.jsf?text=&docid=237048&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1695542<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] The improved limits are contained in a long-delayed technical document called \u2018the revised LCP BREF\u2019. Delays in implementing the limits on coal plants have already allowed air pollution that caused more than \u20ac150bn in associated health costs and more than 55,000 premature deaths.\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/eeb.org\/library\/background-briefing-on-the-2017-lcp-bref-transposition-for-coal-fired-power-plants\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[<\/span>3<\/span>]\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?qid=1503383091262&uri=CELEX%3A32017D1442<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0EU\u2019s new air pollution limits,\u00a0which could save more than 20,000 lives every year by\u00a0cutting\u00a0pollution from coal-fired power plants alone, were\u00a0annulled today by the judges of Luxemburg [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":103327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[132,128,3,4],"tags":[191,626,89,597,625,624],"class_list":["post-103324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industrial-emissions","category-industry-health","category-news","category-press-release","tag-air-pollution","tag-best-available-techniques","tag-coal","tag-europe-beyond-coal","tag-large-combustion-plants","tag-lcp-bref"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/View_from_the_atop_the_Gallery_building_of_the_Palais_of_the_Court_of_Justice_of_the_European_Union_January_2015.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}