Archived press release

Crown Immunity in Court?

22 September 2004

In a move designed to bring Northern Ireland up to modern environmental standards, Friends of the Earth has asked the European Commission to take legal action on the issue of Water Service’s Crown immunity [1]. Although Water Service is Northern Ireland’s biggest polluter, it cannot be prosecuted because it is a ‘Crown’ body [2].

Friends of the Earth’s Northern Ireland Director, John Woods, said: “We believe that Water Service’s Crown Immunity is a breach of Article 10 of the Treaty of Rome as well as a large body of case law from the European Court [3]. We would expect this to be an open and shut case for the Court - Member States have an obligation to enforce European law and Northern Ireland has been deliberately obstructing the law by failing to remove the anachronism of Crown Immunity.”

Ministers have said that Crown immunity will be removed in 2006 when Water Service is ‘externalised’ into an arm’s length Government owned company. Friends of the Earth, however, believes that the 2006 deadline is likely to slip substantially, perhaps by a number of years, and that it is not acceptable for Water Service to remain above the law.

John Woods continued, “We approached Government earlier this year with a plan for decoupling the removal of Crown Immunity from the plans to ‘externalise’ Water Service. We proposed that legislation to remove immunity be passed without delay, that a proper enforcement policy be developed and that a legally binding timetable for the completion of new sewage works be agreed [4]. Government’s negative response left us with no alternative but to lodge an official complaint with the European Commission.”

“Ministers need to re-think their priorities. If they allow environmental standards to be a casualty of their drive to ‘externalise’ Water Service they will find that the financial benefits from increased revenue will be outweighed by fines imposed by the European Court for deliberately failing to enforce the law.”

Friends of the Earth raised this issue directly with the European Commission during a visit to Brussels earlier this year [5]. Commission officials were surprised to hear that Northern Ireland had no effective means of ensuring that Water Service obeyed European law.

Notes

[1] (back) Read our complaint here

[2] (back) Water Service is regulated by Environment and Heritage Service but because of Crown immunity the worst that can happen to Water Service managers is an exchange of letters with Environment and Heritage Service while their counterparts in the private sector can face large fines and even imprisonment.

[3] (back) The Treaty of Rome established the European Union (EEC as it then was). Article 10 imposes a general obligation on Member States to ensure that European Law is enforceable. The principle has been upheld over the years by numerous decisions by the European Court.

[4] (back) Letter to Permanent Secretary, Department of the Environment and subsequent meeting.

[5] (back) Read our press release here.

To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: foe-ni@foe.co.uk.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust