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CMS and Femern A/S win new case before Federal Administrative Court – construction work can proceed without hindrance

14/12/2022

Hamburg – On 14 December 2022, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuits brought by two environmental associations against the amended planning approval of 1 September 2021 relating to construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link.

A CMS team headed by partners Dr Christiane Kappes and Dr Neele Christiansen represented the developer, Femern A/S, in the cases before the Federal Administrative Court. The team also represented Femern A/S in the previous lawsuits brought against the original planning approval of 31 January 2019.

The court dismissed all actions against this planning approval in 2020 (press notice of 3 November 2020).

However, the Federal Administrative Court found that a further procedure is required with regard to other reefs that were discovered during the court case and which are affected by the construction work. In the amended planning approval of 1 September 2021, the defendant, Schleswig-Holstein’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Transport, had granted exemption from the ban on destruction under nature conservation law for these reefs. The construction work will result in around 9.2 hectares of reefs being lost, either permanently or temporarily. This will be compensated for by the creation of 17.5 hectares of new reefs. The claimants had criticised these compensatory areas as being too small. The Federal Administrative Court endorsed the approach taken by the developers and the Ministry, which was also used when calculating the compensatory areas in the original planning resolution.

CMS Germany  

Dr Christiane Kappes, Partner, Hamburg
Dr Neele Christiansen, Partner, Hamburg
Sebastian Belz, Counsel, Hamburg, all Environmental and Planning Law

Press Contact
presse@cms-hs.com

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