Case C-594/24: Action brought on 13 September 2024 – European Commission v Italian Republic
Date: 2024-09-13
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: infringement of EU law, national implementing measure, pollution control measures, regions of Italy, urban centre, wastewater, water pollution, water treatment








C_202406415EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/6415


4.11.2024






Action brought on 13 September 2024 – European Commission v Italian Republic


(Case C-594/24)

(C/2024/6415)
Language of the case: Italian

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: E. Sanfrutos Cano, A. Spina, L. Cimaglia, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Italian Republic

Form of order sought

The Commission claims that the Court should:






1.


declare that the Italian Republic, by having failed to ensure that:






—


36 agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 2 000 are provided with collecting systems for urban waste water, in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment; (1)











—


in 130 agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 10 000, or with a population equivalent between 2 000 and 10 000, discharging urban waste water into freshwater or estuaries, the urban waste-water entering collecting systems is subject to secondary treatment or an equivalent treatment before discharge, in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 91/271/EEC;










—


in 12 agglomerations with a population equivalent of more than 10 000 discharging waste water into receiving waters considered ‘sensitive areas’, within the meaning of Directive 91/271/EEC, the urban waste-water entering collecting systems is subject to secondary treatment or an equivalent treatment before discharge, in accordance with Article 5 of that directive;










—


in relation to 135 agglomerations, the urban waste-water treatment plants built to comply with the requirements of Articles 4 to 7 of Directive 91/271/EEC as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1137/2008, are designed, constructed, operated and maintained to ensure sufficient performance under all normal local climatic conditions and the design of the plants takes into account seasonal variations of the load, in accordance with Article 10 of that directive;










—


in relation to 165 agglomerations, the competent authorities or appropriate bodies monitor discharges from urban waste-water treatment plants to verify compliance with the requirements of Annex I(B) of Directive 91/271/EEC according to the control procedures laid down in Annex I(D), in line with Article 15 of the same directive,
has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 3, 4, 5, 10 and 15 of Council Directive 91/271/EEC;














2.


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





Pleas in law and main arguments

By its action, 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 paragraph 1 and in 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 collecting systems satisfying the requirements of Annex I(A). In many agglomerations situated in the regions of Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Lombardy and Sicily, that requirement was not complied with properly.
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, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily and Tuscany.
Article 5(2) and (3) of the directive provides that 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 various agglomerations situated in the regions of Lombardy, Puglia, and Sicilia.
The failure to comply with Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 91/271/EEC also entails an infringement of Article 10 of the same 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. The Commission has found that those provisions have not been complied with in various agglomerations situated in the regions of Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily and Tuscany.
Lastly, the first indent of Article 15(1) of Directive 91/271/EEC provides that the competent authorities or appropriate bodies must monitor discharges from urban waste-water treatment plants in accordance with the procedures laid down in Annex I(D) in order to verify compliance of such waste water with the requirements in Annex I(B). That requirement was not correctly complied with in a large number of agglomerations situated in the regions of Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily and Tuscany.


(1)  
            OJ 1991 L 135, p.40.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/6415/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)