Brussels, 09/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Operators whose undertakings are close to a polluted area can be presumed liable for the pollution, affirmed the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in a decision made on Tuesday 9 March in Case C-379/08 and C-380/08. The ECJ has therefore confirmed the polluter pays principle. The ECJ also considers that the national authorities can compel operators to repair the environmental damage caused.
Following several companies from the hydrocarbons and petrochemical sector in the Priolo Gargallo (Sicily) region contesting the sentences they had received for having polluted Augusta harbour, the ECJ was called upon by an Italian court to assess the case. Augusta harbour has been affected by recurrent environmental pollution, whose sources go back to the 1960s when the Augusta-Priolo-Melilli installation was set up as an oil-operating centre.
The ECJ considers that the national authorities were right (if they possessed “plausible indications”) to presume the existence of a link between the operators and the pollution, due to the proximity of their undertakings with the polluted area. The Administrative Court of Sicily had been requested to decide in these cases but called on the jurisdiction of the ECJ to examine the question in connection with application of the polluter pays principle. (L.C./transl.fl)