Luxembourg, 16/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - A European Court of Justice press release states that the traffic ban on lorries of over 7.5 tonnes carrying certain goods such as waste, stone, soil, motor vehicles, timber or cereals from using a 46 km section of the A 12 motorway in the Inn valley in the Tyrol obstructs the free movement of goods under EU law. On request from the Commission (see EUROPE 8555), the Austrian 2003 law was suspending using an unusual procedure under three rulings of the acting President of the Court of Justice in 2003 and 2004.
The Court 'noted that the annual limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) laid down by two Community directives (on air quality and maximum NO2 levels) had been exceeded in the zone concerned in 2002 and 2003, placing Austria under an obligation to act in order to attain the result prescribed by those directives.' But the traffic ban and the Austrian air pollution law transposing the EU directives 'do not fulfil all the conditions necessary for the disputed ban to constitute a measure covered by those directives.' Concerning protection of the environment in general, the Court argues that the traffic ban infringes the principle of proportionality, explaining: 'Before adopting so radical a measure as a total prohibition on using a section of motorway constituting a vital communication link between certain Member States, the Austrian authorities should have carefully examined the possibility of using less restrictive measures. In this case, they did not sufficiently study whether there actually was a realistic alternative solution ensuring transportation of the goods concerned by other means of transport or other road routes and, in particular, whether there was sufficient and appropriate rail capacity. Moreover, a transitional period of only two months for implementing the ban was clearly insufficient to allow the undertakings concerned reasonably to adjust to the new circumstances.'