Brussels, 15/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has moved on with its infringement proceedings against Ireland and Germany, both of which it has already called to order in vain over their failure to observe Community environment legislation. The details are as follows:
Ireland will receive a letter of formal notice under article 228 of the Treaty for non-execution of a Court of Justice ruling against it for failing to send its reports to the Commission by 31 December 2001 on the implementation of various provisions of the regulation on ozone-depleting substances (regulation 2037/2000). If Ireland does not end its infringement, it may be fined, as the Commission will then be in a position to get the Court of Justice involved. Ireland would then be brought before the Court of Justice (third stage of the procedure: article 226 of the Treaty) for persistent breach of two directives: framework directive on waste (the case of sewage treatment plants which are harmful to the environment and to health); -directive on the assessment of the environmental impact of various public and private projects (directive 85/337/EEC modified by directive 97/11/EC).
Germany will receive a reasoned opinion (second stage of the procedure, article 226 of the Treaty) over a licence to build and run an incineration plant for dangerous and non-dangerous waste, which was granted without complete assessment of its impact on the environment. Germany's argument that waste treatment for recycling is not be bound by this obligation was ruled inadmissible. In the Commission's judgement, this is an infringement of the assessment of environmental impact directive.