Luxembourg, 05/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - Landkreis Waldshut, the local authority of the area in Germany that is in the flight path of aircraft approaching Zurich airport, has been allowed to defend the interests of its inhabitants against noise pollution at the Court of First Instance, and will be entitled to the same rights as Germany. Their lawyers will be present during the hearing of the parties in the case brought between the Swiss Confederation and the European Commission, supported by Germany and the Landkreis Waldshut.
Switzerland attacked the European Commission because the latter had authorised unilateral measures from Germany to restrict flights over its territory by flights to or from Zurich. Switzerland was refusing the right of Landkreis Waldshut to intervene in this case. The first chamber at the European Court of First Instance, presided by the Spanish judge Garcia-Valdecasas took the opposing view and authorised Landkreis to defend itself. In February 2004, the Swiss Confederation asked the European Court of First Instance to overrule the decision of December 2003 by the Commission authorising Germany to take protection measures over its territory of flights going to Zurich airport, measures contained in German regulation: known as the “213rd regulation”.
In its decision of 22 pages (see OJ 2004 L4 p13), the Commission said that German measures concerning the approach to Zurich airport were neither discriminatory nor disproportionate and that they did not go against the provisions in the EU/Swiss agreement on air transport. This is being opposed by the Swiss. In the intermediate ruling on Landkreis' request to intervene, the European Court of First Instance said that contrary to what the Swiss Confederation alleges, Landkreis' desire to intervene cannot be confused with the desire of the German Federal Republic to intervene. It explained that Switzerland, a non EU member country could, nevertheless, legally be assimilated with a Member State which had the right to take a European institution to court. But as a third country, it cannot demand the exclusion of a local body or any other entity or person.
Basically, Switzerland considers that the Commission was wrong to authorise the German measures which, it says, were discriminatory against the Swiss air company Swiss: in using its Zurich transfer hub the Swiss company would be subject to greater restrictions than its direct competitor Lufthansa, and as a home carrier (an airline based at that airport), the impact on it would be greater than on the other companies. In addition, it felt the German measures discriminated against Zurich Airport, managed by Unique Flughafen Zurich AG, in relation to comparable German airports for which there are no such flying restrictions.