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When can a trader challenge a competitor's environmental permit? The importance of a commercial interest.

Environmental Law

Third parties can challenge an environmental permit if they demonstrate that they have the required interest. Until the summer of 2021, a commercial commercial interest was not sufficient to attack a licensing decision of a competing company. Such administrative or judicial appeals were consistently rejected as inadmissible. For example, the fear of losing revenue or customers by setting up a company that sold the same goods a few tens of meters away was not enough to challenge its license. A competitor could, however, challenge the license of a company in the area if it could also demonstrate an interest with an urban design approach. The most frequently used argument was that people feared mobility nuisance due to the (usually) new location.

06 October 2022


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This article is available in Dutch and French.

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