Dutch gov't can't downsize Schiphol without following EU procedures, Supreme Court rules

The Dutch government can’t cut flight movements at Schiphol Airport without following the European Union’s balanced approach procedure, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday. It thereby scrapped a previous ruling by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal that the Duch State was allowed to implement two proposed measures to reduce noise pollution around the airport.

Since 2015, the New Standards and Enforcement System (NNHS) has applied for Schiphol. It states that the airport must use its runways in a way that is as favorable to locals as possible and can’t have more than 500,000 flight movements per year. Violations of the legal noise standards are tolerated as long as the NNHS standards are not exceeded.

In 2022, the Cabinet decided to tighten the noise standards and better protect those living around Schiphol from noise pollution. It announced two measures to achieve this: reducing the annual flight movements to 460,000 and no longer tolerating violations of the noise standards. The government wanted to implement these measures while working on new legal regulations.

Various parties in the aviation sector filed lawsuits against these measures, arguing that the government was bypassing European regulations in its downsizing plans. They referred specifically to the balanced approach procedure, which states that the impact of a measure on the operational capacity of the involved airport must be as limited as possible and that the chosen measure must be both cost-efficient and proportionate. It also states that the government must consult stakeholders and submit the measure to the European Commission.

The preliminary relief judge ruled in the aviation parties’ favor, banning the State from implementing the measures without completing the balanced approach procedure. The State appealed, and the appeals court ruled that the EU procedure did not have to be followed for this temporary measure while the government worked on permanent measures. The aviation parties appealed in cassation, bringing the matter to the Supreme Court.

In April, the Advocate General advised the Supreme Court not to uphold the appeals court’s ruling, and the Court decided to follow that advice. The Dutch government cannot cut flight movements at Schiphol to 460,000 movements without completing the EU’s balanced approach procedure, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

The balanced approach procedure “does not provide a basis for excluding from its scope a temporary and experimental measure that has the effect of restricting access to the operational capacity of an airport,” the Supreme Court said. The two measures to reduce noise pollution impact Schiphol’s operational capacity as it restricts its flight movements. “The state can, therefore, only introduce the proposed measures if the balanced approach procedure has been completed.”