- Allegation of tax evasion of ALSAG contributions thus proven to be unfounded
- Allegation of "abuse of office" against state officials also refuted
The dismissal was based on a tax audit carried out by the customs authorities as part of the proceedings. In summary, the Linz customs office stated "that all relevant permits from the trade authorities are available for the Linz site of voestalpine Stahl GmbH and that the legal existence of the landfill is completely unquestionable and therefore the interim storage of LD slag (...) does not constitute an activity subject to contributions within the meaning of the Contaminated Sites Remediation Act. (...) In the opinion of the Linz Wels customs office, no irregularities were detected by the audit during the period of suspicion (...)."
The proceedings against officials of the Linz City Council and the Office of the Upper Austrian Provincial Government were also discontinued. The Umweltdachverband had accused them of abuse of office by incorrectly assessing the waste status of LD slag. The decisions of the officials were based on justifiable legal opinions and no abuse of official authority could be inferred from them, according to the statement on the discontinuation of the proceedings.
The discontinuation concerns the vast majority of the proceedings and the core of the allegations made by the UWD, namely against the Linz site. The audit of the Donawitz site is still ongoing.