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Sentence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, of September 2, 2021: Directive 91/271 / EEC, relative to urban wastewater treatment and the Treaty of the European Union, on the obligation of loyal cooperation.
The European Commission, after resolving the corresponding infringement procedure, brought before the Court of Justice an appeal for non-compliance against a Member State, focusing on the obligations imposed by Directive 91/271 / EEC, on urban wastewater treatment, and on the violation of the obligation of loyal cooperation imposed by the Treaty of the European Union to the States.
The reasons for the appeal were, in particular, the following: 1) Non-compliance with the obligation to ensure that wastewater from urban agglomerations was subjected, before being discharged, to secondary treatment or an equivalent process, in accordance with the Directive; 2nd) Not having ensured that urban wastewater from agglomerations was subjected to a more rigorous treatment; and, 3º) Violation of the TEU, for not having communicated to the Commission the necessary information to be able to verify whether the urban wastewater discharged by the treatment facilities of two urban agglomerations complied with the Directive.
The Court of Justice has interpreted the obligations that the aforementioned Directive imposes on the States, and analyses the situation of each one of the urban agglomerations questioned by the Commission, due to the conditions of the discharge of wastewater, and considered that said rule was not complied with respect to several of them. The Judgment also considers the infringement of the obligation of loyal cooperation established in the TEU, due to the fact that the authorities did not provide the Commission during the processing of the previous administrative procedure, information on the Institution’s website that included the results of the measurements. carried out in wastewater from urban agglomerations, hindering the adequate preparation of the resource to said Institution.
And it is necessary to remember, on the one hand, that, according to the aforementioned Directive, the Member States must ensure that urban wastewater that enters the collecting systems is subjected, before being discharged, to a secondary treatment or a process equivalent. On the other hand, by virtue of the same Directive, they must ensure that urban wastewater that enters the collection systems is subjected, before being discharged into sensitive areas, to a more rigorous treatment than that described in Article 4 of said Directive. Directive.
In both cases, the discharges will meet the relevant requirements of letter B of Annex I of the aforementioned Directive.
The Court of Justice has ruled that, if a Member State can present a sample that meets the requirements, the obligations arising from the Directive must be considered to have been fulfilled, since that article, unlike the provisions of letter D of Annex I of the Directive does not require that samples be collected for a whole year, and it is necessary to distinguish the obligations of results that fall on the Member States under Directive 91/271, aimed at verifying the conformity of discharges of urban wastewater treatment facilities with the provisions of Annex I of said Directive, of the continuing obligation to which they are subject, to ensure that discharges meet over time the quality requirements that they have had to satisfy since the commissioning of the treatment facility.
Regarding the concentration values of harmful substances, or Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), if its parameters are higher than those authorized by Annex I of Directive 91/271, it is important to remember that all treatment facilities must be designed , built, used and maintained in such a way that, in all the normal climatic conditions of the area, they have a sufficient performance, their fulfilment presupposes, in particular, that the requirements established in article 4 of said Directive are met, and cannot be considered that this obligation has been complied with in urban agglomerations in which the obligation to submit all urban wastewater to secondary treatment or an equivalent process, provided for in Article 4 of Directive 91/271, is not observed.
The Commission alleges that the State has failed to comply with its obligations under Article 4, paragraph 3 TEU, by not communicating the relevant data regarding urban agglomerations, so that said institution could verify the allegations made by the State in relation to the breaches that are charged with regard to these urban agglomerations; The fact is that by virtue of Article 4 (3) TEU, Member States are obliged to help the Commission to fulfil its mission, which consists, in particular, according to Article 17 (1) TEU, of ensuring the application of the provisions of the Operating Treaty, as well as the provisions adopted by the institutions by virtue of it. In particular, account must be taken of the fact that, as regards the verification of the correct application in practice of the national provisions aimed at ensuring the effective implementation of a directive, the Commission, which has no powers own investigation in the matter, depends to a large extent on the data provided by the possible complainants, as well as by the affected Member State.
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