The European Commission is taking Spain back to the Court of Justice of the EU for its failure to comply with a judgement of 2011 on urban waste water treatment – Spain faces a €46 million-plus fine and the prospect of a further daily fine of more than €171,000.

In April 2011 the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Spain had violated EU law by not adequately collecting and treating the urban waste water discharged by 37 agglomerations (towns, cities, settlements).

The European Commission said that five years later, this matter remains unaddressed in 17 agglomerations (out of the 37 covered by the judgment) corresponding to 1,400,000 people. In addition, more than 15 years after the deadline of 31 December 2000 for the implementation of the applicable EU rules, the perspective for full compliance in all these agglomerations is still unclear.

The lack of adequate collection and treatment of the waste water poses significant risks to human health, to inland waters and to the marine environment.

The Commission is asking the Court of Justice of the EU to impose a lump sum amounting to €46,522,999 by this date. The Commission is also proposing a daily fine of €171,217.20 if full compliance is not achieved by the date when the Court will issue its second ruling. The penalties proposed take into account the duration of the infringement, its gravity, and the size of the Member State. The final decision on the penalties rests with the Court of Justice of the EU.

According to the Commission, the second referral to the Court is necessary to ensure compliance in these 17 remaining agglomerations, given the very slow progress so far.

Other Member States - Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal - have already been subject to penalties in similar cases.