Environmental Liability Directive

Case concerned air pollution from the incineration of waste
Under Hungarian law, a landowner is liable for remediating its land unless the owner proves beyond a reasonable doubt that another person is liable
Operator/lessee had died
CJEU stated that ‘air pollution does not in itself constitute environmental damage covered by [the ELD but] environmental damage also includes damage caused by airborne elements as far as they cause damage to water, land or protected species or natural habitats’

Case concerned alleged water damage by a hydroelectric power plant that was authorised in 1998 and began operations in 2002
CJEU ruled that the ELD applies to any damage caused by the power plant after 30 April 2007
CJEU also ruled that the holder of fishing rights in the river downstream of the power plant is entitled to initiate review proceedings under the ELD
(Austria subsequently amended national law concerning access to justice)

Request by a nature conservation NGO to the relevant competent authority to prohibit, under national law, fishing methods which touch the seabed, and the use of gillnets, in several Natura 2000 sites located in the German exclusive economic zone in the North and Baltic Seas
Included request to require operators to ‘take necessary preventive measures’ under the ELD
EU has exclusive competency in the field of conservation of marine biological resources under the Common Fisheries Policy
Precludes the adoption of necessary measures concerning waters of the Member State to meet obligations under the ELD

Combatting waste crime