Luxembourg, 23/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a Communiqué, the spokesperson for the European Court of Justice announced that the President of the Court, Gil Rodriguez Iglesias, suspended the enforcement of a provision from the Council regulation modifying the ecopoints system for goods trucks in transit towards Austria.
Appreciating the urgency to set aside the enforcement of the regulation the Austria is calling for the annulment on the substance, the Court President notes that the enforcement of the new regulation leads to an increase in the transit journeys and the nuisance caused by this. These prejudices cannot be retroactively eliminated and their suitable compensation will be extremely difficult or even impossible, specifies the Communiqué.
Taking into account the fact that the ecopoints system will no longer be enforced after the transition period (2003) the President of the Court feels it is necessary to grant Austria a temporary protection in order to avoid that the procedure on the substance of the case leads to a consolidation of an irreversible situation that results in the enforcement of provisions that are at first glance illegal.
The Communiqué reveals the seriousness of the arguments put forward by Austria as to the illegality of a modification of the protocols and annexes of an Act of accession with a simple Council regulation and the need to extend the reduction of ecopoints to the whole year that follows that in which the increases in traffic where recorded".
Concerning the regulation modifying the allocation of ecopoints allowing for transit through Austria see EUROPE of 22 September 2000, p.4.