Judgment of the General Court of 14 June 2012 - Vereniging Milieudefensie, Stichting Stop Luchtverontreiniging Utrecht v Commission
(Case T-396/09)
(Environment - Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 - Obligation of the Member States to protect and improve ambient air quality - Temporary exemption granted to a Member State - Request for internal review - Refusal - Measure of individual scope - Validity - Aarhus Convention)
Language of the case: Dutch
Parties
Applicants: Vereniging Milieudefensie (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Stichting Stop Luchtverontreiniging Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands) (represented by: A. van den Biesen, lawyer)
Defendant: European Commission (represented: initially by P. Oliver, W. Roels and A. Alcover San Pedro, subsequently by P. Oliver, A. Alcover San Pedro and E. Manhaeve, and finally by P. Oliver, A. Alcover San Pedro and B. Burggraaf, Agents)
Interveners in support of the defendant : Kingdom of the Netherlands (represented by: C. Wissels, Y. de Vries, J. Langer and M. de Ree, Agents); European Parliament (represented initially by L. Visaggio and A. Baas, and subsequently by L. Visaggio and G. Corstens, Agents); and Council of the European Union (represented by: M. Moore and F. Naert, Agents)
Re:
Application for annulment of Commission Decision C(2009) 6121 of 28 July 2009 rejecting as inadmissible the applicants' request for review by the Commission of Decision C(2009) 2560 final of 7 April 2009 granting the Kingdom of the Netherlands a temporary exemption from the obligations laid down in Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (OJ 2008 L 152, p. 1)
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls Commission Decision C(2009) 6121 of 28 July 2009;
Orders the European Commission to bear, in addition to its own costs, the costs incurred by Vereniging Milieudefensie and Stichting Stop Luchtverontreiniging Utrecht, including those relating to the proceedings for interim relief;
Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to bear their own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 297, 5.12.2009.