European court finds against Czech Republic over environmental assessment rules

The European Union’s top court, the European Court of Justice, has ruled that the Czech Republic failed to properly put into effect a directive setting out the rules for the environmental evaluation of public and private construction projects. The decision means that the country will have to pay court costs but will not face any other penalties.

The long delayed rules were eventually passed by the Czech parliament in December 2009 after the court proceedings had already been launched. They should have been passed in 2005. Part of the delay was due to a veto on the proposed rules from President Václav Klaus. He said they amounted to a new weapon for environmental groups to block construction projects.