• Particle victory

    Dutch efforts to reduce emissions of fine particles from diesel cars and light vans have been boosted by a ruling by the European Court of Justice.

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    In 2005, the Dutch government set emissions limits that would effectively ban new diesel vehicles emitting more than 5 mg/km of particulate matter, despite EU legislation saying up to 25 mg/km is allowed, because it said the Netherlands had a severe particulate problem. Brussels said the tougher limits were illegal, saying air pollution was not bad enough to justify them, a stance backed up by the EU’s Court of First Instance. But now that stance has been overruled by the ECJ, where judges annulled the Commission’s action because officials had not taken all relevant data into account.