Brussels, 17/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 17 October, the European Court of Justice ordered Belgium to pay a fine of €10 million (case C-533/11) for failing to comply with the Court's 8 July 2004 judgment in Case C-27/03 on the treatment of urban waste water. Belgium violated EU Directive 91/271/EEC, which covers the treatment of waste water in urban communities of more than 10,000 inhabitants in the Brussels area, 114 communities in Flanders and 60 communities in the French-speaking Walloon region. Belgium must also pay a daily fine of €4,722 until it fully complies with the ruling in five areas (Amay, Malmédy, Herve-Bastogne-Rhin and Liège-Sclessin). The ruling follows an initial court case in 2011, when the European Commission noted that one community in Flanders, 21 in the Walloon region and the Brussels-Capital region had missed the deadline for application of the directive (26 June 2009). Progress has been made since then and now there are only five communities which do not comply with the EU rules, but which are due to do so later this year. In the ruling, the Court of Justice notes that, on the expiry of the time limit set down in the reasoned opinion, Belgium had failed to adopt all the measures necessary in order to comply in full with the Court's 2004 judgement. The Commission asked for a lump sum fine of €21 million, but the Court of Justice reduced this in light of the fact that the directive had not been met for nine years, but a huge amount of work was needed in order to comply and progress has indeed been made. In addition, a penalty payment was calculated on the basis of €859,404 for each six months of failure to comply. Belgium is the first member state to appear before the Court of Justice for late treatment of waste water, but several other member states are also late and will be taking note of the fines levied on Belgium. (FG/transl.fl)