Imprecise landfill instructions cannot be grounds for a running penalty – favorable ruling for Andersen in Poland.
Imprecise provisions in the instructions for operating a landfill site cannot constitute grounds for imposing a running penalty on the landfill operator – Andersen in Poland obtains another favorable administrative court ruling.
Lawyers from Andersen’s Environmental Law Team in Poland have succeeded in having the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw overturn the decision of the Chief Environmental Protection Inspector upholding the decision of the Lower Silesian Provincial Environmental Protection Inspector on the determination of the daily rate of the penalty for violating the decision approving the instructions for operating a waste disposal site with regard to the type and method of waste storage. Earlier, in the same case, Andersen in Poland obtained a favorable ruling from the Supreme Administrative Court (overturning the first ruling of the Provincial Administrative Court in the case, in which the Provincial Administrative Court dismissed the complaint against the decision of the Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection).
As of the date of the Provincial Administrative Court’s judgment overturning the decisions of both instances, the amount of the penalty was nearly PLN 3.7 million.
The case began in 2018, when, in the course of an inspection (related to Andersen’s client’s request to close one of the landfill sections), DWIOŚ inspectors found an alleged violation of the decision approving the landfill operating instructions.
The dispute between the landfill operator and DWIOŚ centered on the method of arranging sectors (vertical vs. horizontal) in the last, top layer of the landfill.
The main reasons for the Provincial Administrative Court’s reversal of the decisions of both authorities were that:
- The provisions of the landfill operating instructions held by Andersen’s client are not precise in terms of the obligation to designate both sectors in each layer of the landfill, as well as to adopt equal surface area and geometry of the sectors.
- GIOŚ did not consider whether the fact that the Province Marshal issued a decision setting the date and manner of closing the landfill and completing its reclamation precludes subsequent interference by the landfill manager in the storage space of the plot in order to remedy the violation of the law (extraction of stored waste).
- GIOŚ incorrectly accepted DWIOŚ’s findings regarding the amount of the daily penalty (incorrect determination of the amount of the daily penalty).
- As a consequence of the above circumstances, in the opinion of the Provincial Administrative Court, the environmental protection inspection authorities should have determined whether there were grounds for discontinuing the administrative proceedings in the case.
If your company is a waste landfill operator, we offer our unique knowledge and experience in all matters related to landfill operation (especially those related to WIOŚ inspections and administrative fines).
The case is handled by: Dawid Mielcarski, attorney, Partner at Andersen in Poland