Commission takes Cyprus to the Court of Justice for failure to properly treat urban waste water

Commission takes Cyprus to the Court of Justice for failure to properly treat urban waste water.

The European Commission is today referring Cyprus to the Court of Justice of the EU over its failure to ensure that all agglomerations with a population of more than 2 000 inhabitants have adequate collection and treatment systems for urban waste water as required under EU rules (Council Directive 91/271/EEC).

Cyprus has failed to provide a collecting system for a number of agglomerations and has also failed to ensure that the urban waste water entering collecting systems is subject to appropriate treatment. Although some progress has been made, Cyprus is, however, still failing to ensure that in 31 agglomerations all waste waters are collected or that urban waste water entering collecting systems is subject to appropriate treatment before being discharged. As full compliance is in some cases not expected by the Cypriot authorities before 2027, the Commission has decided to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.

The Commission opened the infringement proceedings by sending a letter of formal notice to the Cypriot authorities in July 2017 and a reasoned opinion in June 2018.

Background

The Urban Waste Water Directive (Council Directive 91/271/EEC) aims to protect people's health and the environment by requiring that urban waste water (domestic waste water and waste water from certain industrial sectors) is collected and treated before discharge.

Towns and cities are required to put in place the necessary infrastructure in order to collect and treat their urban waste water. Untreated waste water can put human health at risk and pollute lakes, rivers, soil and coastal and groundwater.

For More Information

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  On the key decisions in the March 2019 infringements package, see full MEMO/19/1472
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  On the general infringements procedure, see MEMO/12/12
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  On the EU infringements procedure

IP/19/1474