Case C-301/10: Action brought on 16 June 2010 — European Commission v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Date: 2010-06-16
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, United Kingdom, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, aid system, industrial pollution, water treatment








C_2010246EN.01002101.xml










11.9.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 246/21





Action brought on 16 June 2010 — European Commission v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
(Case C-301/10)
()
2010/C 246/36
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: S. Pardo Quintillán, Agent, A.-A. Gilly, Agent)

Defendant: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The applicant claims that the Court should:







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declare that, by failing to ensure that appropriate collecting systems pursuant to Articles 3(1) and (2) and Annex I(A) to Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment (1) are in place in Whitburn and the Beckton and Crossness collecting systems in London, and that appropriate treatment is provided with regard to waste waters from the Beckton, Crossness and Mogden waste water treatment plants in London pursuant to Articles 4(1), 4(3) and 10 of, and Annex I(B) to, the Directive, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed to comply with its obligations under these provisions.










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order the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

Pursuant to Articles 3(1) and (2) of, and Annex I(A) to, Council Directive 91/271/EEC, the United Kingdom is required to ensure that collecting systems are provided for all agglomerations of more than 15,000 population equivalent by 31 December 2000 at the latest and that those collecting systems satisfy the requirements of Annex I(A) to the Directive. Pursuant to Articles 4(1) and (3) of, and Annex I(B) to, that Directive, the United Kingdom is also required to ensure that urban waste water entering collecting systems are, before discharge, subject to secondary treatment or an equivalent treatment for all discharges from agglomerations of more than 15,000 population equivalent by 31 December 2000 at the latest and that discharges from urban waste water treatment plants satisfy the standards to be met for discharges from urban waste water treatment plants to receiving waters.
As the United Kingdom operates a combined system of collection for both urban waste waters and rainwater run off in the London area, that system must be designed to ensure that the waters collected are retained and conducted for treatment in accordance with the requirements set out in the Directive. The United Kingdom has failed to ensure that the collecting systems are designed and built so as to collect all the urban waste water generated by the agglomerations they serve and that they are conducted for treatment. The capacity of the collecting system must be able to take into account natural climatic conditions and seasonal variations. The United Kingdom has infringed the requirements of the Directive in failing to provide adequate collecting systems and treatment facilities in the London and Whitburn areas and allowing excessive quantities of untreated waste water to spill into the environment without treatment.


(1)  OJ L 135, p. 40