Limit values legal? ''A groundbreaking ruling!'' Interview with lawyer Sibylle Killinger

Source: www.diagnose-funk.org/aktuelles/artikel-archiv/detail?newsid=2112
02-08-2024
translation in English

Limit values legal? ''A groundbreaking ruling!''

Interview with lawyer Sibylle Killinger

The legal battle over a mobile phone mast in Bodenheim near Mainz is taking an unexpected course: The legality of the limit values for mobile phone radiation is now in question. In an interview with our campaigner Matthias von Herrmann, Sibylle Killinger, lawyer for a couple from Bodenheim, explains how it could have come to this, what the verdict and the further proceedings mean for other proceedings throughout Germany and what options for action arise from it. His comment following the interview shows three possible courses of action. The verdict as a download on the right and at the bottom of the page.

diagnose:funk: Ms. Killinger, how did the verdict come about?
SIBYLLE KILLINGER: In August 2021, the Federal Network Agency issued Deutsche Telekom with a location certificate for a mobile phone mast in Bodenheim near Mainz. A couple then filed an objection and lawsuit against this location certificate. The couple is directly affected, the two live only 430 meters from the planned mast. This action was dismissed as inadmissible by the Mainz Administrative Court due to alleged errors in the time limit. The couple then appealed - and were successful. And to top it off: It is a groundbreaking appeal ruling!

diagnose:funk: What is groundbreaking about this appeal ruling?
KILLINGER: The decisive factor is that the Koblenz Higher Administrative Court (OVG) has ordered an investigation into the facts of the mobile phone limit values in order to review the legality of the location certificate of the mobile phone mast. The Mainz Administrative Court (VG) must therefore rehear the lawsuit - with a substantive clarification as to whether the limit values applicable to mobile phone radiation guarantee the physical integrity of people. This is protected by the Basic Law, more precisely by Article 2 (2). This is a novelty since the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court in 2002.

diagnose:funk: First of all, what did the Constitutional Court say in 2002?
KILLINGER: In this decision of the Federal Constitutional Court, a constitutional complaint by a plaintiff was not accepted for decision, so the court rejected it. At that time, too, the complainant had asserted a violation of his physical integrity by a mobile phone mast near his home. The complaint was rejected by the Constitutional Court at the time on the grounds that the Federal Government had a very broad margin of appreciation with regard to the correctness of the limit values. Therefore, in the last 22 years, there has been no substantive debate in the courts, so to speak, on the possible health hazards of mobile phone radiation.

diagnose:funk: Now I'm looking forward to the novelty.
KILLINGER: Yes, now we have a new situation that the OVG has taken up: On 14.2.2023, the Bundestag Committee on Technology Assessment published its report, which raises doubts about the legality of the mobile phone limits. In addition, the Administrative Court of Mainz stated in its judgment dismissing the action that it considered the applicable mobile phone limit values to be ''completely insufficient for the protection of human health''. The OVG is probably taking these two facts as an opportunity to change direction. The need for a review of the limit values is now to be renegotiated before the Administrative Court of Mainz.

diagnose:funk: So what happens in court?
KILLINGER: The parties were asked by the Administrative Court of Mainz to comment on the decision of the Higher Administrative Court. In our statement, we have supplemented, deepened and analysed the statements on the NTP and Ramazzini studies contained in the report of the Technology Assessment Committee. In addition, we explained the damage to chromosomes caused by radio radiation, as shown in the new ATHEM-3 study. And we referred to the new WHO study on the negative effects of mobile phone radiation on male fertility. All studies are at a very high scientific level. The Ramazzini, ATHEM-3 and WHO studies show that mobile phone radiation is harmful to health below the limit values. The NTP study confirms this result. In doing so, we prove that the limit values do not protect the fundamental right to physical integrity. In the pending oral hearing, the court must decide on the necessity of taking evidence. Experts from research can be consulted as experts and the study situation would be processed.

diagnose:funk: What does this trial end with?
KILLINGER: In the end, the Administrative Court of Mainz decides whether it considers the limit values to be lawful, i.e. whether it considers physical integrity to be protected by the limit values and thus considers the location certificate in Bodenheim to be lawfully issued – or not. Either side can then still take action against the decision of the Administrative Court of Mainz, up to and including the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.

diagnose:funk: Does the ruling of the Koblenz Higher Administrative Court already help anyone today?
KILLINGER: Yes, and in three different constellations: The first concerns so-called pending proceedings, where someone has already sued a mobile phone mast and for some reason the proceedings have not yet been concluded. In such proceedings, the plaintiffs can refer to the judgment of the Koblenz Higher Administrative Court and, if necessary, even file an application for a stay of the proceedings – until the conclusion of the proceedings after all instances. After all, it is in this court that the legality of the limit values is to be decided.

diagnose:funk: Constellation number 2?
KILLINGER: This concerns politics. On the basis of the new case law, municipalities could agree on a moratorium on local mobile phone expansion with district offices and, if necessary, even with mobile phone operators until the conclusion of the procedure in Mainz. Citizens' initiatives could draw the attention of their municipalities to this possibility, which is opened up by the new case law.

diagnose:funk: All good things come in threes ...
KILLINGER: If the matter with the voluntary moratorium does not work, citizens could continue to file a lawsuit and refer to the decision of the Koblenz Higher Administrative Court in the reasoning. The chances of success of lawsuits have now increased. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out the possibility of a ''joint lawsuit'', as we have filed in Neubeuern.

diagnose:funk: That sounds innovative. What is that?
KILLINGER: By filing a joint lawsuit, the financial risk can be spread over many shoulders, for example the members of a citizens' initiative. Members can file a lawsuit in court on behalf of the member who lives closest to the planned radio mast, but distribute the costs among everyone. In addition, the supporters could also be named in the statement of claim or simply their number. This makes it clear to the court and the opposing side that it is actually not just one plaintiff, but that many others are behind the lawsuit.

diagnose:funk: The decision of the OVG sounds promising. Are we perhaps expecting too much from it?
KILLINGER: We are basically dealing here with a test case. The OVG itself says that ''questions are raised'' here that ''can become important in a large number of other proceedings.'' This ruling by the Koblenz Higher Administrative Court already represents an enormous strengthening of mobile phone critics. In any case, it increases the prospects of filing a lawsuit against other mobile phone sites.

Lawyer Sibylle Killinger
Sibylle Killinger studied law in Passau, then worked in Munich, and has lived in Neubeuern in the Inn Valley since 2018. Since the beginning of 2021, she has been accompanying a joint lawsuit against a mobile phone box in Neubeuern and a lawsuit against a radio mast in Niederaudorf. She also represents a couple from Bodenheim who are supported by the citizens' initiative ''5G-frei-Rheinhessen''
(https://bi-5g-frei-rheinhessen.jimdosite.com/).

For further information on this topic see the link at the top and for other recent related and relevant information see:
www.stopumts.nl/doc.php/Juridische%20Informatie/13027/redir .



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