Press Release: Environment: Commission takes Austria to Court over failure to protect water quality on Schwarze Sulm river

On 16 April 2014, the European Commission announced that was taking Austria to Court for its failure to ensure adequate protection for the Schwarze Sulm river in Steiermark. In the Commission's view, the construction of a proposed power plant would cause a serious deterioration in the quality of the river, which is one of the longest undisturbed rivers in the region. The Commission was of the view that the regional authority failed to respect the water quality requirements of the Water Framework Directive when it authorised the hydropower project in 2007. Indeed, the permit in question was revoked by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Environment in 2009, but Austria's constitutional court dismissed that revocation on purely formal grounds in 2012. The permit therefore came back into force and can no longer be challenged before a national court. This led the Commission to open infringement proceedings in 2013, on the grounds that the permit for the power plant is not in line with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG Environment: Water http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/index_en.htm

European Commission: Secretariat-General: Application of EU law: Infringements of EU law http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/infringements/infringements_en.htm

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