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Land Hessen v Franz Mücksch OHG

Country/Territory
European Union
Type of court
International court
Date
Sep 15, 2011
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
European Court of Justice
Seat of court
Luxembourg
Judge
Berger (Rapporteur), M.
Tizzano, A.
Kasel, J.-J.
Levits, E.
Safjan, M.
Reference number
C-53/10
Language
English
Subject
Waste & hazardous substances
Keyword
Cleaning agents/detergents Hazardous substances
Abstract
The present case concerned a proposal to build a garden centre on a plot of land situated around 250 metres from Merck installations using chemical substances including, inter alia, chlorine, which is covered by Directive 96/82. In carrying out its mandatory duty as set out in the Building Code, which prevented it from itself carrying out an assessment of the need to maintain appropriate distances, the local authority gave preliminary planning permission, which was challenged by Merck. The Court (First Chamber) ruled that (i) under article 12(1) of Directive 96/82, the obligation of Member States to ensure that account is taken of the need, in the long term, to maintain appropriate distances between establishments covered by that Directive and buildings of public use also applies to a public authority responsible for issuing planning permissions, even when it has no discretion in the exercise of that prerogative; (ii) that obligation does not require the competent national authorities to prohibit the siting of a building of public use in circumstances such as those of the case in the main proceedings. In contrast, that obligation precludes national legislation that provides that it is mandatory to issue an authorisation for the siting of such a building without the hazards connected with the siting of the building within the perimeter of those distances having been duly assessed at the planning stage or at that of the individual decision.
Full text
COU-159035.pdf
Website
curia.europa.eu