The general interest protected is air quality (Directive 2008/50/EC). The European Court of Justice has already condemned Italy for failing to comply with existing limits in certain areas (including Milan) for PM10 (Judgement of November 10, 2020, Case C-644/18) and NO2 (Judgement of May 12, 2022, Case C-573/19). Moreover, the European Court of Justice stated in its 2020 judgement that “EU rules... cannot exempt Member States from their obligation to comply with the limit values established by Directive 2008/50... in order to avoid, prevent or reduce the harmful effects of air pollutants on human health and the environment as a whole”. In the light of the recent approval by the European Parliament of the amendments to the Commission proposal for the new Ambient Air Quality Directive, it is considered even more urgent to take action with the aim of reducing the most polluting sources.

On November 19, 2020, the Municipality of Milan approved its own air quality regulation (Municipal Council Decision No 56) as a means of reducing local emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. Areas of action also include promoting the renovation of heating systems for civilian use where they are powered by fuels characterized by high air emissions. Following judgement No 09669/2022 of the Council of State, which states that the Municipality should proceed with this technical rule verification, Article 3 has been annulled. For the purpose of reinstating the annulled regulations under Article 3 of the current regulation concerning certain types of thermal plants, duly updated, this notification request is hereby sent. The proposal to reinstate Article 3, paragraphs 1/2/3/5, which is the subject of this request, suggests to prohibit the installation of new heating systems for civil buildings with a capacity of less than 3 MW fuelled by diesel oil, or kerosene and other oil distillates and their emulsions, or biodiesel, or biomass fuels. It is also proposed that the above types of existing heating systems be phased out, with time frames varying according to fuel type and where technically feasible.