Official Journal of the European Union

C 113/16

(Case C-33/10)

2010/C 113/24

Language of the case: Danish

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: A. Alcover San Pedro, H. Støvlbæk, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Denmark

Form of order sought

—The Kingdom of Denmark has failed to comply with its obligations under Article 5(1) of Directive 2008/1/EC (1) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control;

—order Kingdom of Denmark to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Article 5(1) of the Directive requires all Member States to enact measures with a view to implementing a permit and/or review procedure for existing installations by 30 October 2007. That time-limit applies without exception and the Directive does not allow the Member States to rely on exceptional circumstances as grounds for not complying with the obligation.

It is not sufficient that measures have been adopted in Denmark with a view to ensuring closure of all cases relating to compliance with Article 5(1) of the Directive by the end of 2009. Nor can delays resulting from the municipal reform of 1 January 2007 be accorded any weight in the assessment of whether Denmark has complied with its obligations under Article 5(1). The time-limit laid down for legalising installations expired on 30 October 2007 and was notified to Member States as early as 22 September 2005. Denmark has thus had a number of years in which to adopt the necessary measures to comply with the Directive.

Denmark has not contested its failure to implement requirements for the granting of permits for existing installations. It is thus uncontested that a significant number of the eight Danish installations are operated without permits under the Directive, contrary to Article 5(1) of the Directive.

(1) OJ 2008 L 24, p. 8.