Wyeth loses EPA High Court case

Mary Carolan

A pharmaceutical company today lost its High Court bid to prevent its prosecution by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for certain alleged breaches of its waste disposal licence.

AHP Manufacturing, trading as Wyeth Medica Ireland, Clondakin, Dublin, had argued certain conditions of its licence under which it has been prosecuted by the EPA were unconstitutional, and it sought an order quashing those conditions.

The company took proceedings relating to five of 18 summonses issued against it by the EPA in November 2006 for alleged offences in relation to the disposal of waste on dates between September 2000 and May 2001.

The company sought a declaration that the conditions on the licence were unlawful and that sections of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992, under which it was prosecuted, were repugnant to the Constitution. It also sought to challenge the constitutionality of the time limits for prosecution.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins found the company was precluded from bringing proceedings as it was clearly many years outside the time limits set down under the Act as well as by the rules of the Superior Courts.

The judge said the company had not shown it was in danger of becoming a victim of the legislation it wished to challenge and had not shown it was prejudiced by this.