Judgment;Information — ECLI:EU:C:2021:92
Date: 2021-02-03
Language of the case: Hungarian
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Subject matter: Environment
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Hungary

Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 3 February 2021 – European Commission v Hungary (Case C-637/18) 1 (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Environment – Directive 2008/50/EC – Ambient air quality – Article 13(1) and Annex XI – Systematic and persistent exceedance of limit values for microparticles (PM10) in certain Hungarian zones – Article 23(1) – Annex XV – Exceedance period to be ‘as short as possible’ – Appropriate measures) Language of the case: Hungarian Parties Applicant: European Commission (represented by: K. Petersen, K. Talabér-Ritz and E. Manhaeve, Agents) Defendant: Hungary (represented by: M. Z. Fehér and A. Pokoraczki, Agents) Operative part of the judgment The Court: Declares that: – by systematically and persistently exceeding the daily limit value for concentrations of particulate matter PM10, first, from 1 January 2005 up to and including 2017, in the zone HU0001 – Budapest region and in the zone HU0008 – Sajó valley and, secondly, from 11 June 2011 up to and including 2017 (with the exception of 2014), in the zone HU0006 – Pécs, Hungary has failed to fulfil its obligation under the provisions of Article 13 of, in conjunction with Annex XI to, Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, and – by failing to adopt as from 11 June 2010 appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the daily limit value for concentrations of particulate matter PM10 in those zones, Hungary has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 23(1) of Directive 2008/50, on its own and in conjunction with Section A of Annex XV to that directive, and in particular the obligation laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 23(1) of that directive, to ensure that the period of exceedance of the limit values is kept as short as possible; Orders Hungary to pay the costs. ____________ 1 OJ C 427, 26.11.2018.