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Europe – The European Court of Human Rights ruled, in a judgment of 23 October 2025 (case no. 16803/21 – Ayala Flores v. Italy), that a demolition order concerning a house built without planning permission, issued following a judgment delivered in 2002 and which became final in 2003, was not disproportionate under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to respect for private and family life and home). The Court found that the Italian Court of Cassation had taken the applicant’s arguments into account but considered them vague, unsubstantiated, and insufficient to outweigh the important public interest in carrying out the demolition. This was all the more so given that the applicant had continued to live in the house for 15 years in deliberate disregard of the law, despite knowing that it was located on a protected natural site and in a seismic risk zone
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats The applicant and her husband built a 30 m² house on a plot of land owned by the latter in Procida, where they established their home in the early 1990s. In August 1996, the local authorities found that the house had been...
Europe – In a judgment of 21 October 2025 (cases no 31620/15, 34859/15 and 14659/16 Naskov and Others and Others v. North Macedonia), the European Court of Human Rights, ruling on the question of material damage suffered by applicants as a result of a restitution order which had deprived them of the possibility of taking possession of a plot of land, annulled by a judgment delivered by the European Court on 12 December 2023, orders the Republic of North Macedonia to transfer to the applicants, within three months, a plot of land located in the same area and having the same value and the same characteristics as the land initially at issue in the case and, failing that, to pay them the sum of 774,000 euros
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats In a judgment delivered on 12 December 2023 (Naskov and Others v. North Macedonia, nos. 31620/15 and 2 others – “the principal judgment”), the Court held that the annulment of the final restitution order in the context of...
Europe – Romania – The Court of Justice of the European Union held in a judgment of 16 October 2025 (C-391/23) that Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999 (‘European Climate Law’) must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which subjects producers of electricity from renewable sources to a tax on income from the sale of their electricity above a certain price set by that regulation, but which exempts producers of electricity from fossil fuels from that tax when that regulation does not appear likely to have a decisive influence on the achievement of the objective of climate neutrality collectively, to the Union and the Member States for 2050 or to have the effect that the Member State which adopted it thereby fails to fulfil its obligation to take the measures necessary to enable the achievement of this common objective
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats La Cour de justice de l'Union européenne répondait à une question préjudicielle qui lui était posée par décision de la Cour d’appel de Bucarest (Roumanie)du 7 février 2023. Cette question est posée dans le cadre d’un...
Czechia – Publication, for public information purposes; on October 20, 2025, the amended draft of the new « Metropolitan plan » of the capital city of Prague
The Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital City of Prague has announced that an amended draft of the new spatial plan of the Capital City of Prague – the so-called Metropolitan Plan – will be published on October 20, 2025 . The metropolitan plan will...
Europe – Italy – In a judgment delivered on 9 October 2025 (cases nos. 1986/09 and 67556/13), the European Court of Human Rights condemned Italy to the restitution of property that had been confiscated as an accessory penalty following a conviction for unlawful land development (“lottizzazione abusiva”), finding a violation of Article 7 (principle of legality of penalties) and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (protection of property)
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats Two groups of applicants had brought their cases before the Court. The first group consists of the perpetrators of the offense sentenced by the Italian courts to confiscation. The second group consists of a person who...
Europe – Greece – By judgment of 9 October 2025 (C-368/24), the Court of Justice of the European Union ordered Greece to pay the Commission a penalty payment of EUR 12,500 per day from the date of delivery of the judgment and to pay it the sum of EUR 5,500,000 for maintaining on the island of Zakynthos, at Gryparaiika, a landfill site which is malfunctioning, saturated and does not comply with the conditions and requirements of EU environmental regulations, in contradiction with its judgment of 17 July 2014, Commission / Greece (C-600/12)
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats Greece was condemned by a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 17 July 2014, Commission v Greece (C-600/12 - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62012CJ0600) for failure to fulfil...
Belgium – Flemish Region – By judgment of 18 September 2025 (122/2025), the Constitutional Court annuls Article 5 of the decree of the Flemish Region of 19 April 2024 « amending the decree of 25 April 2014 relating to the environmental permit, with regard to the execution of the tasks for the screening of the project RIE »
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats The applicants in this case are seeking the annulment of Article 5 of the Flemish Regional Decree of 19 April 2024 "amending the Decree of 25 April 2014 on environmental permits, with regard to the performance of tasks for...
Belgique – Région de Bruxelles-Capitale : La Cour constitutionnelle belge suspend, par arrêt du 11 septembre 2025 (n°115/2025), l’ordonnance du Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale du 21 mars 2025 qui reporte du 1er janvier 2025 au 1er janvier 2027 l’interdiction de circulation dans la zone à faible émissions (ZFE) pour certains véhicules en ce compris pour les véhicules diésel Euro 5 et essence Euro 2
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats Par arrêt du 11 septembre 2025 (n°115/2025), la Cour constitutionnelle suspend l’ordonnance du Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale du 21 mars 2025 « modifiant l’ordonnance du 2 mai 2013 portant le Code bruxellois...
Belgium – Walloon Region – The Walloon Government decided on August 28, 2025, to simplify the application forms for planning permits, urban development permits, and planning certificate no. 2. The new forms, developed to simplify the work of applicants and government departments, and also to prepare for the future digitalization of permit application procedures, will come into effect on October 1, 2025.
HAVET & VANHUFFEL - Association d'avocats The Walloon Government decided on August 28, 2025, to simplify the application forms for planning permits, urban development permits, and planning certificate no. 2. The new forms, developed to simplify the work of...
Luxembourg – Par deux arrêts du 15 juillet 2025, la Cour administrative a reconnu la légalité de la règlementation luxembourgeoise en matière d’émetteurs d’ondes électromagnétiques
Antennes GSM : la Cour administrative reconnait la légalité de la règlementation luxembourgeoise mais annule les autorisations d’exploitation accordées à l’opérateur de téléphonie mobile Par deux arrêts du 15 juillet 2025 (n° 52228C et 52229C), la Cour administrative...