'Government may cut NB permits'

The Dutch State may cut nature permits from agricultural companies. A license is not private property, argues legal adviser Valentijn Wösten. He also denounces the system of internal and external netting, which has been rigged up in the nitrogen policy.

This came to the fore during the so-called round table discussion on the nitrogen problem, which was held yesterday in the House of Representatives. Politicians, scientists, dairy farmers, nature organizations and various advisors for the dairy farming sector came together to formulate a policy on the nitrogen problem. 

Wösten painted the picture that there have been lawsuits for almost 30 years, in which nitrogen emissions were an issue and, according to him, all had the same outcome: that too much nitrogen is being emitted. According to him, the ecological problem must first be solved and then the legal problems will also disappear. Nature and restoration measures are often useless, according to Wösten, if the nitrogen values ​​do not fall first. 

Permit space no right
Now that the government is faced with a task to reduce nitrogen emissions, it can strategically limit the permit space of agricultural companies, according to Wösten. He invokes a judgment of the Supreme Court from 2001, from which it can be concluded that the license space that is issued is not a right. 

Wösten also questions the system of internal and external netting. In essence, according to him, this means that a license is turned into working capital. According to him, this is mutually exclusive, because working capital falls under private law and license under administrative law. According to Wösten, by allowing the trade in permit space, the government will lose control of the process because there is no incentive to reduce.

Uncertainty trumps
Marijn Dekkers, sector manager of Rabobank, said that the current nitrogen law does not provide the desired clarity to the Dutch agricultural entrepreneurs that they need. With the lawsuits to come, it remains unclear, especially for dairy farmers. According to him, this slows down the process of making the agricultural sector more sustainable.

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.