The European Commission was wrong to ban the Netherlands from making soot filters on diesel vehicles compulsory, the European Court of Justice said on Thursday.

The court said the Commission had not taken the country’s highly concentrated population and infrastructure into account, reports Reuters news agency.
The Netherlands wanted to introduce the filter in 2006, arguing it could not meet Commission targets on exhaust pollution without them. Brussels plans to make them compulsory next year and said it did not want the Netherlands to go it alone, a position upheld by the court last year.
For a related story on Dutch efforts to bring in soot filters, click here