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On Thursday, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a ruling that found Poland in violation of EU laws on animal welfare and afforestation.
The European Commission (EC) accused Poland of violating the EU’s animal and bird protection directive by including a clause in its national laws which declared that forest planning done in accordance with the best practices did not go against the directive.
The Commission was tasked with looking into the issue of environmental organisations being unable to challenge afforestation plans in court.
In the first case, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) decided to negate the clause in question, as it enabled a breach of the EU directive. In the second matter, the ECJ declared that environmental associations have the authority to ask for a judicial assessment of the legality of afforestation schemes.
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