Action brought on 15 July 2019 — European Commission v Italian Republic

(Case C-668/19)

(2019/C 363/17)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: E. Manhaeve, L. Cimaglia, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Italian Republic

Form of order sought

The Commission claims that the Court should:

declare that the Italian Republic, by failing to

— adopt the measures necessary to ensure that 166 agglomerations which have a population equivalent of more than 2 000 are provided with collecting systems for urban waste water, in accordance with Article 3 of Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment, (1)

— adopt the measures necessary to ensure that in 610 agglomerations which have a population equivalent of more than 10 000, or which have a population equivalent of between 2 000 and 10 000 and discharge in fresh water or estuaries, urban waste water entering collecting systems is, before discharge, subject to secondary treatment or an equivalent treatment, in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 91/271/EEC,

— adopt the measures necessary to ensure that in 10 agglomerations which have a population equivalent of more than 10 000 and discharge into receiving waters considered to be ‘sensitive areas’ within the meaning of Directive 91/271/EEC, urban waste water entering collecting systems is, before discharge, subject to more stringent treatment than secondary treatment or an equivalent treatment, in accordance with Article 5 of that directive,

— adopt the measures necessary to ensure that in five ‘sensitive areas’ within the meaning of Directive 91/271/EEC the minimum percentage of reduction of the overall load entering all urban waste water treatment plants in that area is at least 75 % for total phosphorus and at least 75 % for total nitrogen, in accordance with Article 5(4) of that directive,

— adopt the measures necessary to ensure that the urban waste water treatment plants built to comply with the requirements of Articles 4 to 7 of Directive 91/271/EEC are designed, constructed, operated and maintained to guarantee sufficient performance under all normal local climatic conditions and to ensure that, when the plants are being designed, seasonal variations of the load are taken into account in 617 agglomerations, in accordance with Article 10 of that directive;

— has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 3 and/or Article 4 and/or Article 5 as well as Article 10 of Directive 91/271/EEC;

— order the Italian Republic to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By its application, the Commission complains that the Italian Republic has not implemented correctly, in various parts of its territory, Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment.

First of all, the Commission finds that there have been various infringements of Article 3 of the directive, which provides in the second indent of its paragraph (1) and in its paragraph (2) that Member States were required to ensure that, by 31 December 2005 at the latest, all agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 2 000 were provided with collection systems satisfying the requirements of Annex I(A). In numerous agglomerations situated in the regions of Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Puglia, Sicily, Aosta Valley and Veneto, that requirement was not properly complied with.

In addition, under Article 4(1) and (3) of Directive 91/271/EEC, Member States were required to ensure, by 31 December 2005 at the latest, as far as discharges from agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 10 000 are concerned, or those from agglomerations with a population equivalent of between 2 000 and 10 000, that urban waste water entering collecting systems was, before discharge, subject to secondary treatment or an equivalent treatment, in accordance with the relevant requirements of Annex I(B). The Commission has found that those provisions have not been complied with in a large number of agglomerations situated in the regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Puglia, Piedmont, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria, Aosta Valley and Veneto.

Next, under Article 5(2) and (3) of the directive, Member States were required to ensure by 31 December 1998 at the latest that, for all discharges from agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 10 000, urban waste water entering collecting systems was, before discharge into sensitive areas, subject to more stringent treatment than that described in Article 4. The Commission has found that those provisions have not been complied with in a series of agglomerations situated in the regions of Basilicata, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Marche, Puglia, Sardinia and Veneto.

Then, as regards the sensitive areas, Article 5(4) of the directive provides the possibility of not applying the requirements set out in Article 5(2) and (3) for individual urban waste water treatment plants where it can be shown that the minimum percentage of reduction of the overall load entering all urban waste water treatment plants in a specific sensitive area is at least 75 % for total phosphorus and at least 75 % for total nitrogen. That has not been demonstrated for various sensitive areas on the Italian territory.

Lastly, the failure to comply with Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 91/271/EEC also entails an infringement of Article 10 of the directive, which provides that urban waste water treatment plants must be designed, constructed, operated and maintained to ensure sufficient performance under all normal local climatic conditions.

(1) OJ 1991 L 135, p. 40