The legal dispute between voestalpine and the Umweltdachverband (UWD) has been settled. After UWD Honorary President Gerhard Heilingbrunner declared to voestalpine that he would no longer uphold the criminal allegations repeatedly made against the company, last Friday voestalpine suspended the proceedings pending before the Vienna Commercial Court against both the UWD and its Honorary President.
In addition, both voestalpine and UWD acknowledge the results of the expert dialog held by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment on March 5 regarding the use of LD slag in road construction. For both parties, the dispute resolution represents an important step towards objectifying and de-emotionalizing the debate on this topic.
On January 9, 2014, voestalpine Stahl GmbH filed a lawsuit against the UWD and its honorary president for injunctive relief, revocation, publication of the revocation and determination of liability. The reason for this was the repeated accusations previously made against the company, including intentional ALSAG evasion, which had already been dismissed by the Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption at the end of 2013.
From a factual point of view, the result of the UBA expert dialog, which has since been published, made a significant contribution to putting the ecological argumentation back on a fact-based and, above all, objective scientific foundation and avoiding its further abusive mixing with superficial interest and market policy motives in the future. The result is therefore fully supported by both UWD and voestalpine.
voestalpine sees the current development as "an important step towards restoring a basis of mutual trust - not only with regard to the environmental associations that are particularly exposed to the issue, but above all as a basis for emotion-free and constructive future cooperation with NGOs as a whole." voestalpine has also set out the premises of a corresponding dialog - going beyond the topic of LD slag - in its own declaration of principles and sent it to Austrian NGOs (see attachment).
"With the settlement of the legal dispute with the UWD, both sides - and voestalpine in particular - associate the expectation of ending the discussion in this matter in the interests of all those interested in an objective solution and bringing about a clear legal settlement," emphasizes the company. The decision taken a few days ago by the Styrian state government to lift the ban on the use of LD slag in road construction is a further step in the right direction. "In the interests of legal certainty for both suppliers and their customers, the way should now be clear for the Construction Materials Recycling Ordinance, which has been pending for some time, and this regulation should also be finalized before the summer."
The voestalpine Group is a steel-based technology and capital goods group that operates worldwide. With 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries and on all five continents, the Group has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products, the Group is one of the leading partners to the automotive and consumer goods industries in Europe and to the oil and gas industries worldwide. The voestalpine Group is also the world market leader in turnout technology, special rails, tool steel, and special sections. In the business year 2012/13, the voestalpine Group reported revenue of more than EUR 11.5 billion and an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.45 billion. It staffs roughly 46,400 employees worldwide.