Pollution is in the details: Court of Justice prioritises Air Quality Directive’s highest standards over the Industrial Emissions Directive derogations (Case C-375/21 Sdruzhenie’ Za Cemyata – dostap do pravosadle’ and Others)

On 9 March 2023, the Court of Justice (Second Chamber) delivered a preliminary ruling in case C-375/21, Sdruzhenie’ Za Cemyata – dostap do pravosadle’ and Others, about the coordination of two EU measures against air pollution: the Industrial Emissions Directive and the Ambient Air Quality Directive. As a result of assessing the two acts, the Court reinforced the mandatory nature of the air quality limit values vis-à-vis possible derogations foreseen in the Industrial Emissions Directive. In this case, both AG Kokott and the Second Chamber affirmed the primacy of the air quality standards. However, this Op-Ed finds that slightly different reasoning between the AG Opinion and the final judgment reveals differing fundamental approaches. While the AG’s Opinion focuses on air quality plans and leaves more room for discretion to national authorities, the final judgment anchors the coordination of the two directives to strict and objective pollution limit values.