CELEX: C2007/235/15
Language: en
Date: 2007-10-06 00:00:00
Title: Case C-335/07: Action brought on 18 July 2007 — Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Finland

6.10.2007   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 235/9
            
         Action brought on 18 July 2007 — Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Finland
   (Case C-335/07)
   (2007/C 235/15)
   Language of the case: Finnish
   Parties
   
      Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: I. Koskinen, M. Patakia and S. Pardo Quintillán, acting as Agents)
   
      Defendant: Republic of Finland
   Form of order sought
   
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               declare that, by failing to require that urban waste water entering collecting systems from all agglomerations of more than 10 000 p.e be subject to more stringent treatment, the Republic of Finland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 5(2), (3) and (5) of Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment (1);
            
         
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               order the Republic of Finland to pay the costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   All aquatic environments in Finland must be regarded as ‘sensitive areas’ within the meaning of Directive 91/271/EEC. It follows that the obligation to ensure that all urban waste waters entering collecting systems which originate from agglomerations of more than 10 000 p.e are to be subject to more stringent treatment is applicable to all Finnish territory. Nitrogen is an important factor in eutrophication in parts of Selkämeri and a dominant factor in Saaristomeri and the Gulf of Finland. In the springtime, the capacity to treat nitrogen is reduced in the central area of the Baltic Sea. The eutrophication in those areas is indisputable. A reduction in the nitrogen and phosphorus loads would help to prevent phytoplankton bloom in the spring and summer. The Republic of Finland has infringed Article 5(2), (3) and (5) of Directive 91/271/EEC in that it failed to ensure that all nitrogen was removed from all urban waste water entering collection systems and which originate from agglomerations of more than 10 000 p.e.
   
      (1)  OJ 1991 L 135, p. 40.