Press Release: Waste water treatment: Commission seeks substantial fines for Belgium; sends fresh warning to Luxembourg

The European Commission referred Belgium back to the EU's Court of Justice on 24 June 2010 for its failure to bring the country's waste water treatment up to the standards required by EU law. The Commission asked the Court to impose a lump-sum fine of more than €15 million and a daily penalty payment of nearly €62.000. Despite an earlier Court ruling in the long-running case, some 40 agglomerations still remain listed as not complying with EU legislation. The Commission also sent Luxembourg a fresh warning that it will be taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for the second time with the possibility of fines over the same issue. Both Member States are still not complying with the 1991 Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, despite having been condemned by the EU's Court of Justice for this.