News
13. February 2023
HFK Update: Act to accelerate administrative court proceedings in the infrastructure sector passed by the Bundestag
On February 10, 2023, the Bundestag passed the Act on the Acceleration of Administrative Proceedings in the Infrastructure Sector, whose key contents will enter into force immediately after its promulgation.
The Act will be applicable in particular to procedures for the approval of wind turbines and planning approval procedures for the expansion of the rail, trunk and federal road networks, federal waterways and the construction of high-voltage and gas supply lines.
The aim of the Act is, on the one hand, to reduce the duration of proceedings for projects with a high economic or infrastructural significance and, on the other hand, changes in the procedure for interim legal protection are intended to contribute to a faster start of realisation of the projects.
In practice, we believe that the new legal provisions on interim relief will be of particular importance. This is because it is now possible for the court deciding the dispute to disregard a formal or material defect in the proceedings if it is obvious that it will be remedied in the foreseeable future. In addition, the court order or restoration of the suspensive effect shall otherwise be limited to those measures of the project for which this is necessary in order to prevent imminent irreversible disadvantages.
This means that certain deficiencies determined by the court will no longer necessarily lead to a construction stop of the plan project, so that it can also – at least predominantly – continue to be implemented in construction terms.
For infrastructure projects already in the approval process or in the ongoing planning approval process, it is particularly positive that the law will also apply to these procedures once it comes into force, provided that no action against the planning project is pending before the competent court.
For further information on the impact on your project, we are pleased to be at your disposal.
Your contact persons:
Wulf Clausen, Lawyer, Specialised Lawyer for Administrative Law, HFK Hamburg, clausen@hfk.de
Dr Thorsten Behle, Lawyer, HFK Hamburg, Environmental Consultant (WBSU), behle@hfk.de