351514 Country/Territory France Type of court National - higher court Date Feb 26, 2014 Source UNEP, InforMEA Court name Conseil d'Etat Seat of court Paris Reference number 351514 Language French Subject Waste & hazardous substances Abstract This decision concerns the possibility to invoke article 1 (right to an healthy environment) and article 5 (precautionary principle) of the Charter for the environment. The Conseil d’Etat ruled that it is possible to rely upon these dispositions to request the repeal of a decree aimed at preventing risk of serious harm to human health and environment. A number of associations requested to repeal Decree of 3 June 2011 on the protection of the population against health risks from exposure to asbestos, on the ground that it failed to take into account the Charter for the Environment.First, the applicant claimed that the fact that the decree does not require the removal of asbestos below the level of 5 fibers per liter of air does not comply with article 1 of the Charter for the Environment.The Conseil d’Etat stated that administrative authorities have to ensure that this principle is respected when they specify the modalities to implement a law that sets the conditions and terms of the protection of population against threats to the health. The administrative judge has to assess whether measures taken for the application of the law did not fail to take into account the principle.The Conseil d’Etat considered that this ground was effective. However it ruled that the fact that the decree does not require removal works of asbestos below the level of 5 fibers per liter of air. Indeed, such obligation would have lead to a multiplication of the number of work sites, which generate themselves risks for health and environment. Given the existing knowledge and technical resources on the date of the decree, the regulatory power did not failed to take into account the right to an healthy environment.Secondly, the applicants criticized also the lack of definition of a value of management for the short fibers of asbestos. The Conseil d’Etat decided that the argument based on article 5 of the Charter for the Environment was effective. However, it ruled that to the date of the decree, existing knowledge do not allow to define a relevant threshold. In addition, the definition of such a threshold will lead to request removal work that will expose people (operators, inhabitants) to the risk of release of fibers in the air. As a result, the Prime Minister does not made a manifest error of assessment. Full text CE 2014 n°351514 .pdf affichJuriAdmin.do