EU citizens may sue countries for health-damaging dirty air, top court adviser says

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Kate Abnettp

pBRUSSELS Reuters – Citizens in European Union countries may be able to sue their governments for financial compensation if illegal levels of air pollution damage their health, an adviser to Europes top court said on Thursday.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pThe advisers opinion follows a string of rulings at the Luxembourgbased Court of Justice of the EU in recent years, with around 10 EU countries including France, Poland, Italy and Romania found guilty of illegal air pollution.p

p“Advocate General Juliane Kokott takes the view that an infringement of the limit values for the protection of air quality under EU law may give rise to entitlement to compensation from the State,” the court said in a statement.p

pKokott noted that it is often poorer communities that live and work in highly polluted areas and particularly need judicial protection.p

pShe said, however, any individuals claiming compensation would need to prove that the damage to their health had been directly caused by the air pollution. A government may also avoid liability if it could prove the pollution limits would still have been breached if it had a sufficient air quality plan in place, Kokott said.p

pEU court opinions are nonbinding, but the court typically agrees with them in the ruling that follows in the coming months.p

pThe opinion concerns a case brought by a Paris resident seeking 21 million euros in compensation from the French government, on the grounds that air pollution damaged his health and the government failed to ensure compliance with EU limits.p

pA Versailles court hearing the Paris dispute asked the EU court to clarify whether individuals can claim such compensation.p

pParis breached the EUs legal limits for nitrogen dioxide pollution between 2010 and 2019, according to past EU court rulings. It did the same in 2020, according to the French Council of State.

In a bid to reduce premature deaths associated with dirty air, the EU will propose an upgrade of its pollution limits this year to better align them with stricter World Health Organization rules.

Reporting by Kate Abnett, editing by Marine Strauss and Tomasz Janowski

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