Berlin, 27 July 2026. North Rhine‑Westphalia Superior Administrative Court has dismissed an action brought by the North Rhine‑Westphalia regional branch of BUND seeking to rescind an expropriation at Hambach open‑cast mine. Dr Tobias Masing, a partner at Redeker Sellner Dahs law firm, acted as counsel for RWE Power AG in the proceedings.
The proceedings involved the issue of whether cession of a plot of land belonging to BUND back in 2018 had to be rescinded following modification of the opencast mine plans as a result of the Coal‑Fired Power Generation Phase‑Out Act (Kohleverstromungsbeendigungsgesetz) and preservation of the Hambach Forest. Although no lignite is to be extracted from beneath the plot in future, the plot is still needed for opencast mining operations, in particular for the extraction of earth to be used in the subsequent design of the embankments for the planned opencast lake.
The Superior Administrative Court ruled that the legal requirements for cession of the land to be rescinded were not met. The intended purpose of the expropriation was still present, in the opinion of the High Court, as the opencast mining project is being continued under amended underlying conditions and the intended use of the plot of land continues to fall within the scope of the original purpose behind the expropriation. Nor, according to the Court, did the fundamental right to property give rise to any claim for rescission of the land transfer.
“The decision confirms that adapting an opencast mining project to changed underlying legal conditions does not necessarily lead to the cessation of a land transfer that has already become permanent and final. The ruling thus establishes legal clarity in any assessment of similar situations under mining law going forward,” comments Dr Tobias Masing.
The Superior Administrative Court refused to grant leave to appeal the case to the Federal Administrative Court. An objection may be filed against this refusal.
