Italy is ordered to pay a lump sum of €25 million and a fine of more than €30 million for every six months of delay
The Court already found in its first judgment in this matter in 2012 that Italy had failed to fulfil its obligations.
By judgment of 19 July 2012, the Court of Justice held that, by having failed to take the measures necessary to guarantee that 109 agglomerations situated in Italian territory are provided, where necessary, with urban waste water collecting systems and/or urban waste water treatment systems meeting the requirements of Directive 91/271, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive. Considering that, on expiry of the time-limit on 11 February 2016, Italy had still not taken the measures necessary to comply with the judgment of 2012, the Commission brought before the Court a second action against that country for failure to fulfil its obligations and sought the imposition of financial penalties. In today’s judgment, the Court finds that, on expiry of the time-limit on 11 February 2016, Italy had not taken all the measures necessary to comply with the judgment of 2012 in order to fulfil its obligations under the directive. The Court finds that, in addition to having persisted for nearly six years, the failure of Italy to fulfil its obligations is particularly serious in so far as the lack of, or inadequacy of urban waste water collecting or treatment systems could harm the environment. It finds in particular that the number of agglomerations in respect of which, on the date of the hearing, Italy had not provided proof of the existence of urban waste water collecting and treatment systems in compliance with the directive (74 agglomerations) is high, even though that number has been reduced in comparison with the judgment of 19 July 2012 (109 agglomerations at that time). Furthermore, the Court notes that the process of making the urban waste water collecting and secondary treatment systems of certain agglomerations compliant with the provisions of the directive should have taken place by 31 December 2000 at the latest. In those circumstances, the Court considers it appropriate to order Italy to pay into the EU budget a fine of €30,112,500 for every six months of delay in implementing the measures necessary to comply with the judgment of 2012, that fine being due from today until the full compliance with the judgment of 2012.
Furthermore, in view of the specific situation and the infringements committed previously by Italy as regards the collecting and treatment of urban waste water, the Court considers it appropriate to order Italy to pay into the EU budget a lump sum of €25 million in order to prevent the future repetition of similar infringements of EU law.
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