Private Life and the Protection of the Environment
| Author | Aalt Willem Heringa |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X9500200207 |
| Published date | 01 June 1995 |
| Date | 01 June 1995 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Aalt Willem Heringa'
Private Life and the Protection of the Environment
European Court
of
Human Rights 9 December 1994, Series A, vol. 303-C,
Lopez-Ostra v.
Spain
In December 1994 the European Court of Human Rights (hereafter: the Court) handed
down an important decision, finding a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention
and the ensuing effects upon the applicant's health and housing conditions. The implica-
tions of this judgment are potentially far reaching in particular as regards those coun-
tries with less developed legislation and rules against all kinds of environmental prob-
lems, and with huge pollution problems caused by out-dated and iII equipped factories,
which lack sophisticated techniques to prevent pollution of the air, water and the soil,
and which thereby - directly - affect people's health and living conditions.
The facts
of
the Lopez-Ostra case were relatively simple.
Awaste-treatment plant was built next to the apartment of the applicant; the plant
started to operate (without a licence) in July 1988. As a result
of
many disturbances,
causing fumes, smell and contamination, the people living in the vicinity of the plant
were evacuated by the municipality and temporarily housed elsewhere. After some
months the applicant and her family returned to their apartment and lived there until
February 1992.
In September 1988 the local council ordered the cessation of some activities at the plant.
The Court deduced from a report written by experts and submitted to the Court by the
Spanish Government and the applicant, that a nuisance remained and could endanger the
health of the people living in the vicinity.
The applicant urged the municipality to find a solution to the nuisance in vain. She then
filed an appeal with the competent administrative court, invoking constitutional rights
*Senior Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law, University of Limburg (NL).
196 MJ 2 (1995)
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