Role of a judge when dealing with files on water
Litigation in national courts
Litigation in the national courts involving water law may relate to EU water legislation either directly or indirectly. Where litigation in a national court directly relates to EU legislation proper, one or several provisions of the Water Framework Directive is in itself formally relied upon by the parties as the basis for the lawsuit or as a decisive legal argument. However, there are many cases where water legislation comes up within a legal dispute not because of a claim’s legal basis or as a main, self-standing legal argument, but in the context of the application of some other EU environmental law instrument, i.e. in an indirect way.