Case C-304/23: Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 17 October 2024 – European Commission v Republic of Malta (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Article 258 TFEU – Directive 91/271/EEC – Urban waste water treatment – Collecting systems for urban waste water in certain agglomerations – Article 4 – Secondary or equivalent treatment of urban waste water – Article 5 – Sensitive areas – More stringent treatment – Article 10 – Sufficient performance – Article 15 – Monitoring of the conformity of discharges with the requirements of Annex I.B – Control procedures laid down in Annex I.D – Maximum permitted number of samples which fail to conform)
Date: 2024-10-17
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: environmental monitoring, infringement procedure (EU), national implementing measure, pollution control measures, wastewater, water pollution, water treatment








C_202407145EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/7145


9.12.2024






Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 17 October 2024 – European Commission v Republic of Malta


(Case C-304/23)
                (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Article 258 TFEU - Directive 91/271/EEC - Urban waste water treatment - Collecting systems for urban waste water in certain agglomerations - Article 4 - Secondary or equivalent treatment of urban waste water - Article 5 - Sensitive areas - More stringent treatment - Article 10 - Sufficient performance - Article 15 - Monitoring of the conformity of discharges with the requirements of Annex I.B - Control procedures laid down in Annex I.D - Maximum permitted number of samples which fail to conform)
(C/2024/7145)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: E. Sanfrutos Cano and C. Schembri, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Malta (represented by: A. Buhagiar, acting as Agent, and by D. Sarmiento Ramírez-Escudero, abogado)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


The Republic of Malta:






—


by failing to take the measures necessary to ensure that urban waste water from the agglomerations of Malta South and Malta North entering collecting systems is, before discharge, subject to secondary treatment or an equivalent treatment, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 4 and 10 of Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment;










—


by failing to take the measures necessary to ensure that urban waste water from the agglomeration of Malta North entering collecting systems is, before discharge into sensitive areas or their catchment areas, subject to more stringent treatment than that described in Article 4 thereof, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 5 of that directive; and










—


by failing to monitor discharges of urban waste water from the agglomerations of Malta South and Malta North in order to verify compliance thereof with the requirements of Annex I.B to that directive in accordance with the control procedures laid down in Annex I.D to that directive, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 15 of, and Annex I.B and I.D to, that directive;














2.


The Republic of Malta is ordered to pay the costs.






(1)  
            OJ C 252, 17.7.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/7145/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)