Case C-752/18: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 19 December 2019 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bayerischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof — Germany) — Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV v Freistaat Bayern (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Environment — Article 6, the first paragraph of Article 47 and Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Directive 2008/50/EC — Atmospheric pollution — Ambient air quality — Air quality plan — Limit values for nitrogen dioxide — Obligation to adopt appropriate measures to ensure that any exceedance period is very short — Obligation on the national courts to take any necessary measure — Refusal of a regional government to comply with an injunction — Coercive detention contemplated in respect of senior political representatives or senior officials of the region concerned — Effective judicial protection — Right to liberty of the person — Legal basis — Proportionality)
Date: 2019-12-19
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: air quality, application of EU law, civil servant, enforcement of ruling, environmental monitoring, environmental protection, greenhouse gas, imprisonment, principle of proportionality, right to justice








C_2020061EN.01001701.xml










24.2.2020   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 61/17






Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 19 December 2019 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bayerischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof — Germany) — Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV v Freistaat Bayern
(Case C-752/18) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Environment - Article 6, the first paragraph of Article 47 and Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Directive 2008/50/EC - Atmospheric pollution - Ambient air quality - Air quality plan - Limit values for nitrogen dioxide - Obligation to adopt appropriate measures to ensure that any exceedance period is very short - Obligation on the national courts to take any necessary measure - Refusal of a regional government to comply with an injunction - Coercive detention contemplated in respect of senior political representatives or senior officials of the region concerned - Effective judicial protection - Right to liberty of the person - Legal basis - Proportionality)
(2020/C 61/20)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bayerischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV

Defendant: Freistaat Bayern

Operative part of the judgment

EU law, in particular the first paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as meaning that, in circumstances in which a national authority persistently refuses to comply with a judicial decision enjoining it to perform a clear, precise and unconditional obligation flowing from EU law, in particular from 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, it is incumbent upon the national court having jurisdiction to order the coercive detention of office holders involved in the exercise of official authority where provisions of domestic law contain a legal basis for ordering such detention which is sufficiently accessible, precise and foreseeable in its application and provided that the limitation on the right to liberty, guaranteed by Article 6 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, that would result from so ordering complies with the other conditions laid down in that regard in Article 52(1) of the Charter. On the other hand, if there is no such legal basis in domestic law, EU law does not empower that court to have recourse to such a measure.


(1)  OJ C 54, 11.2.2019.