Azieone legale UE contro italia per mancato rispetto delle norme ambientali

[Massimo Cerani <m.cerani at tele2.it>]

( da environmental expert.com)


EC pursues legal action against Italy over infringements of 
environmental laws
Source: European Commission
Published Jun. 5, 2008


The European Commission is pursuing legal action against Italy over 
three cases in which EU legislation to protect the environment is being 
violated. One case concerns Italy's failure to comply fully with a 
European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement condemning it for not carrying 
out an environmental impact assessment of a new waste incinerator. In 
this regard the Commission is sending a first written warning under 
Article 228 of the treaty, which could lead to Italy being fined if it 
does not comply. In the other two cases, the Commission is sending Italy 
final written warnings under Article 226 of the Treaty over a river 
water abstraction project which is harming a protected wildlife site and 
the failure of a local authority to verify whether a strategic 
environmental assessment of a new land-use plan was needed.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: 'Carrying out an 
assessment of the environmental impacts of new plans and projects and 
consulting the public on their views before a final decision is taken is 
an essential element of good governance. The Council and Parliament have 
set down these procedures in EU legislation and all Member States need 
to respect them. I hope Italy will also act quickly to stop the damage 
being done to the Basso Trebbia wildlife site.'

Article 228 action over environmental assessment of waste incinerator

The case concerns Italy's failure to carry out an environmental impact 
assessment (EIA) for a *new waste incinerator at Massafra*, in the 
Puglia region, in violation of the EU's EIA Directive.[1] The directive 
requires Member States to carry out an impact assessment (EIA) of 
certain types of development projects that could have a significant 
impact on the environment before a decision is taken on whether to 
authorise them. A public consultation must be held and its results taken 
into account in the final decision.

In a case brought by the Commission, Italy was condemned by the ECJ in 
November 2006 over the Massafra incinerator and another breach of the 
EIA Directive. An ex-post EIA of the incinerator has now been launched 
but this fails to provide for an effective public consultation as 
required by the directive. The Commission has therefore decided to send 
Italy a first written warning under Article 228 of the Treaty. Article 
228 applies when a Member State has failed to comply fully with an ECJ 
judgement. It gives the Commission the power, after issuing two 
warnings, to take the Member State to the Court a second time and to ask 
for fines to be imposed.

Final written warning over water project in nature site

The Commission is sending Italy a final written warning over a *water 
abstraction project on the river Trebbia in the Emilia-Romagna* region 
which is damaging a valuable wildlife habitat that forms part of the 
EU's Natura 2000 network of protected sites. The 'Basso Trebbia' site is 
designated both as a Site of Community Importance under the EU Habitats 
Directive[2] and as a Special Protection Area under the directive on the 
conservation of wild birds.[3]

The Italian authorities carried out an assessment of the water 
abstraction project's effects on the site which concluded that a certain 
'minimum vital flow' of water in the river should be ensured to prevent 
damage. However, the authorisation granted to the project requires the 
minimum vital flow to be respected from 2009 but only a fraction of this 
level until then. This reduced water flow is damaging the ecological 
value of the site, which constitutes a breach of the Habitats Directive. 
The sending of a final written warning under Article 226 means that the 
Commission is likely to take the case before the ECJ if Italy does not 
resolve the problem quickly.

Final written warning over land use plan

The Commission is also sending Italy a final written warning over the* 
*failure of a local authority to verify whether a strategic 
environmental assessment (SEA) was needed before approving a detailed 
land use plan.

This infringes the EU's SEA Directive,[4] whose purpose is to ensure 
that the environmental consequences of certain plans and programmes are 
identified and assessed before they are adopted. Under the Directive, 
for certain plans, including those which determine the use of small 
areas at local level, Member States have to determine whether an SEA is 
necessary through a 'screening' process that must be based on certain 
criteria listed in Annex II of the Directive.

In the case of t*he land use plan adopted for the municipality of 
Staranzano in Gorizia province,* the decision of the competent 
authorities not to carry out an SEA was not based on the correct 
criteria. The sending of a final written warning under Article 226 means 
that the Commission is likely to take the case before the ECJ if Italy 
does not resolve the problem quickly.

Legal Process

Article 226 of the Treaty gives the Commission powers to take legal 
action against a Member State that is not respecting its obligations.

If the Commission considers that there may be an infringement of EU law 
that warrants the opening of an infringement procedure, it addresses a 
"Letter of Formal Notice" (first written warning) to the Member State 
concerned, requesting it to submit its observations by a specified date, 
usually two months.

In the light of the reply or absence of a reply from the Member State 
concerned, the Commission may decide to address a "Reasoned Opinion" 
(final written warning) to the Member State. This clearly and 
definitively sets out the reasons why it considers there to have been an 
infringement of EU law, and calls upon the Member State to comply within 
a specified period, usually two months.

If the Member State fails to comply with the Reasoned Opinion, the 
Commission may decide to bring the case before the Court of Justice. 
Where the Court of Justice finds that the Treaty has been infringed, the 
offending Member State is required to take the measures necessary to 
conform.

Article 228 of the Treaty gives the Commission power to act against a 
Member State that does not comply with a previous judgement of the 
European Court of Justice. The article also allows the Commission to ask 
the Court to impose a financial penalty on the Member State concerned.