Judgment No. 5087/2009 of July 17, 2009 (Supreme Court of Spain, Administrative Litigation Division, Section 5)

Spain

Jurisdiction: Spain

Principle law(s): EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) (Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC)

Side A: Arcelor Espa̱a, S.A. (previously known as Arcelaria Corporaci�_n Sider̼rgica, S.A.) (Corporation)

Side B: Council of Ministers of Spain (Government)

Core objectives: Sought declaration that both were invalid

Summary

Arcelor España, S.A. (previously known as Arcelaria Corporación Siderúrgica, S.A.) challenged the decision of the Council of Ministers of Spain of January 21, 2005, declaring the individual assignment of emissions credits for the 2005-2007 term. Arcelor argued the decision was void because (1) the European norm on which it was based violated the principles of equality, freedom of enterprise, the right to property, and rule of law; and (2) Spanish Law 1/2005 of March 9th, which transposed the EU's Directive 2003/87/EC, was also invalid as to its applicability to the iron and steel industry and not to others that compete with the same (e.g. the chemical sector and the sector for non-ferrous metals). The Court rejected Arcelor's arguments and dismissed its request for remedy.

Case documents

Judgment (English)

Related laws and policies

This law implements European Union legislation

EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) (Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC)

Passed in 2003 Legislative

This Directive establishes a Community GHG emissions trading scheme from 2005, to enable the Community and the Member States to meet their Kyoto Protocol commitments. Directive 2004/101/EC reinforces the link between the EU's emission allowance trading scheme and the Kyoto Protocol by making the ...