ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the legal basis and grounds under which the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) orders interim measures in environmental cases and the types of such measures, followed by a discussion of periodic penalty payments as an instrument to ensure implementation and compliance with the interim measure ordered. The analysis demonstrates two cases in the context of the evolution of interim remedies in environmental cases: Białowieża Forest (C-441/17 R) and Turów Mine (C-121/21 R). These cases show that the CJEU explicitly rejected the view that only Article 260 TFEU empowers the CJEU to impose pecuniary penalties. In Turów Mine, such a periodic penalty payment under Article 279 TFEU was imposed on a Member State for the first time. Periodic penalty payments (if the Member State fails to comply with the interim measures ordered) are a tool to: (i) encourage the relevant Member State to comply with the interim measures ordered; (ii) enhance the effectiveness of those measures; and (iii) guarantee the full effectiveness of the final decision. This instrument, which ensures the efficiency of the interim measure ordered, is a new practice in the case law of the CJEU. Moreover, the CJEU ruled that periodic pecuniary penalties imposed under Article 279 TFEU ensure Member States’ compliance with interim measures and ultimately serve to guarantee the effective application of EU law. In view of the doubts raised in the literature, the analysis examines the current legal basis for imposing periodic penalty payments to ensure the efficiency of the interim measure ordered and the problem of the amount of such fines and how they are calculated.
