Court of Justice 16 July 2026, C-524/24 (Opinion of Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona delivered on 16 July 2026.)

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In an inter-State infringement action brought by Italy against Austria under Article 259 TFEU, Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona opines that Austria has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 34 and 35 TFEU by maintaining a night traffic ban on heavy vehicles on the A 12 motorway, a sectoral traffic prohibition on the transport of certain goods on the same motorway, and a Saturday winter traffic ban on the A 12 and A 13 motorways, on the grounds that those measures, individually and in combination, are either inconsistent, disproportionate, or insufficiently justified in light of updated air quality data and the failure to examine less restrictive alternatives. The Advocate General considers the night traffic ban disproportionate due to the overbroad local and regional traffic exemption and Austria's failure to review proportionality after consistent compliance with Directive 2008/50/EC limit values since 2021; the sectoral prohibition disproportionate for the same failure to reassess necessity in changed circumstances; and the winter traffic ban discriminatory and unjustified given its selective application only to vehicles bound for Italy or Germany and its interaction with other concurrent restrictions. The fourth plea concerning the traffic dosing system is recommended for dismissal on the ground that Italy failed to discharge its burden of proving that the measure constitutes a restriction on the free movement of goods within the meaning of Article 34 TFEU.AI