Arcelor, the steelmaker that challenged the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), was spurned for a second time by the EU's General Court, which on March 2 ruled that Arcelor's action was inadmissible.
After the ruling, Arcelor said the ETS might put "excessive strain" on the EU steel industry, which could be forced to shed employees or move production elsewhere, reports AP, via Google.
Arcelor, the world's biggest steel maker after its 2006 merger with Mittal, in 2004 filed an application for annulment of certain articles of the ETS, which is the cap and trade program covering emissions from EU industrial polluters and utilities.
Arcelor argued that applying the ETS to pig iron or steel production was in violation of European Community law, including property rights, the freedom to pursue economic activity and the principle of equal treatment.
The court said that Arcelor could not individually challenge the ETS, reports Euractiv.
"Arcelor has not shown that, in adopting the directive, the (EU) legislature committed a sufficiently serious breach of the right of property, the freedom to pursue an economic activity ... or the principle of legal certainty to give rise to non-contractual liability on the part of the (EU)," the court ruled, reports M&C.
Arcelor also had sought a payment for damages, which was not granted.
Arcelor lost in court in 2008 also when it attempted to argue that the ETS violated the principle of equal treatment because it did not also apply to chemical and non-ferrous polluters.
