Cordella and Others v. Italy

The applicants were 180 individuals who lived or have lived in the municipality of Taranto and the neighboring areas, in Italy. They filed a case against an industrial steelworks complex for serious ecological harm caused due to the harmful emissions from its plant which has impacted the health of the local population. The ECtHR found a violation in:

Article 8: The national authorities had failed to take all the necessary measures to provide effective protection of the applicants' right to respect for their private life. Further, it held that the failure to balance between the applicants' interest in not being subjected to environmental pollution and the interests of the society.

Article 13: The applicants had no effective remedy that enabled them to raise concerns with the national authorities so as to ensure decontamination of the affected areas.