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In a lawsuit filed by citizens and non-governmental organizations for polluted air in Sofia, the Sofia City Court (SCC) ruled that the Sofia Municipality had systematically exceeded the fine dust particles (PM) in the city. In its decision, the court stated that the Sofia Municipality has not adopted an up-to-date air quality management program, has not fully fulfilled its obligation to inform the public about air quality.
The Sofia City Court condemns the Sofia Municipality within 12 months from the entry into force of the court decision to cease its inaction with measures, among which are the introduction of incentives for the use of alternative methods of heating and make an assessment in the transport sector. With its decision the court obliges the municipality to analyze the possibilities for multi-storey car parks and increase the buffer car parks, as well as to build a complete bicycle network.
The decision of the Sofia City Court is not final and is subject to appeal before the Sofia Court of Appeal within two weeks of service on the parties. In this case, the Sofia Municipality paid BGN 108,000 for the legal services of a lawyer to represent it. His task was for the court to issue a decision not only that the municipality would not be held liable and sanctioned, but also that the lawyer’s expenses would be reimbursed.
The case was filed by citizens and the non-governmental Clean Air Group with a collective claim against the municipality for the regular exceeding of the norms for air pollution in Sofia and the inadequate measures of the Sofia municipality in the period 2015-2017.
The statement of claim states that according to the ranking of the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2016, the city of Sofia was the dirtiest European city, in view of the concentration of fine dust particles (PM 10 and PM 2.5). According to the WHO, 8,000-9,000 people died annually in Bulgaria as a result of air pollution. This finding was confirmed by the reports of the European Environment Agency, as well as by a report of the European Commission from 2017 on the implementation of environmental legislation in Bulgaria.
Data of the Executive Environment Agency (EEA) for each of the years from 2013 to 2016, the average annual values of PM-10 in the air of Sofia have exceeded the permissible norms of 35 days a year. In addition to high average annual values, the permissible average daily concentrations of PM-10 pollution, which reached extremely dangerous levels, were exceeded on the territory of the Sofia Municipality. PM-2.5 pollution was also a problem due to extremely high emissions on individual days, which were not reported due to the imperfect regulatory framework, despite the well-known fact that PM 2.5 was more dangerous than PM-10 even at lower concentrations.
The plaintiffs claim that for this detrimental result, during the trial period, the illegal inaction of the Sofia Municipality had a significant impact, which was expressed in non-fulfillment of the normative obligations.
During the trial, the lawyers of the Sofia Municipality claimed that PMs were part of the atmospheric dust. Their sources could be natural – sand, soil, pollen, volcanoes, fires, or artificial – from human activity economic activity, transport (gasoline and diesel engines, particles of brake wear, catalysts, tires), household needs (e.g. use of coal, wood and other solid fuels in heating and cooking, smoking), agriculture (including stubble burning) and construction.
The municipality has announced that the problem of air pollution was not local, but pan-European, and applied to a number of other cities such as Berlin, Paris, Bucharest and others.
The court accepted that in September 2008 the Sofia Municipality concluded a contract for preparation of an Operational Action Plan in case of exceeding the established norms or alarm thresholds of air pollutants in case of unfavorable weather conditions and other factors. The norms for atmospheric air quality are also indicated: average daily – 50 μg / m3; annual average 40 μg / m3. Such thresholds are set for ozone, sulfur and nitrogen dioxide, but for PM they are missing.
During the procedure for preparation of the Program for the quality of the atmospheric air, prepared on the basis of an order of the mayor from 2.11.2016, an Operational Plan was adopted as part of the Disaster Protection Plan of the municipality, as it almost does not differ from the adopted one. in 2008
Within the procedure for adoption of the Air Quality Program, the municipality has assigned and an analysis and assessment of the implementation of the measures for the previous period 2011-2014 has been prepared. It is reported that the closure of the Kremikovtzi metallurgical plant has led to the expected reduction in the level of air pollution with PM-10, which was evident from the measurements at the Yana Station monitoring station. However, with with the exception of Kopitoto checkpoint, for all other checkpoints on the territory of Sofia, the average annual concentration (MPC) of PM-10 remains above the norm of 40 μg / m3. It was found that sources of air pollution in S.O. with PM10 are road transport and the use of wood and coal for heating homes.
In the established factual situation the court accepts that the Sofia Municipality has not fulfilled its obligations for control and management of the activities related to ensuring the purity of the air on the territory of Sofia, which has caused or has caused excessive air pollution with PM-10 and PM- 2.5, for the period from January 2015 to May 29, 2017.
The court ruled to order the defendant to cease his wrongful inaction in relation to his obligations to control and manage the activities related to ensuring clean air, including to stop the violation of European and national emission standards for PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the atmosphere over Sofia.
The municipality is sentenced to correct the consequences of non-fulfillment of its obligations by taking specific measures to eliminate the effect of the violation: information campaigns, distribution of free respiratory masks, subsidized by the defendant examinations by a pulmonologist and allergist, measures aimed at transport and heating of solid fuel, etc. The circle of disabled people is composed of people who live, work or study in Sofia.
“This is a great success for the people of Sofia and Bulgaria, as it shows that citizens can jointly assert their rights to clean air and a clean environment through collective actions,” the plaintiffs from the Clean Air Group commented after the sentencing.
“We thank all the organizations that have taken part in the case so far -“For the Earth “, “Save Sofia”, Center for Independent Living, Type 2 Diabetes Association, as well as the lawyers – Dimo Gospodinov, Alexander Kojabashev, Ivan Velov and Hristo Hristev. We thank all the donors, without whose help we would not have been able to cope with the costs, “the organization added.
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