12/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling on 25 January (case C-405/05), the Court took the view that the United Kingdom had failed in its obligations to transpose the directive on the treatment of urban waste water (91/271/EEC). The measures put into place in 15 cities, including nine in Northern Ireland, did not ensure “secondary treatment or equivalent treatment” for “the entirety of waste water discharges produced” in these cities by 31 December 2000, which was the cut-off point for the implementation of these measures in all cities with more than 15,000 inhabitants, in virtue of article 4 of directive 91/271/EEC of the Council (EUROPE 8866). The Court took the view that London's plea, which is that it had suffered from problems of an internal nature, was without basis. (cd)