The Constitutional Court in Belgium swept aside arguments that “only the federal authority had the power to legislate on standards aimed ultimately at protecting human health.”, judging that that “the Regions have the authority to prevent and to combat different types of environmental pollution, and that this authority confers the right to take measures to prevent and to limit risks (…), including limiting people’s exposure to the risks from these types of radiation.”
In its decision published this Thursday the Constitutional Court confirmed a statutory exposure limit of 3 V/m (lower than the federal standard of 20.6 V/m, which is again lower than the ICNIRP standard of 61 V/m), due to come into force in the Brussels Region on 15th March next.
The Court went even further and judges that on the basis of its redefined competence, “the federal authority no longer has the power to set statutory exposure levels. (…) The choice made by the regional legislature (…) to apply the principle of precaution falls within the right of this legislative body to make its own assessment and cannot be rejected simply because there are no stricter international standards in force.”