Tata Steel Netherlands summoned by Dutch prosecutors over pollution violations

Mumbai: Dutch public prosecutors have summoned executives of Tata Steel’s Netherlands arm over a case of “intentional and unlawful" pollution, nearly four years after the country first started a probe to ascertain if the steel maker’s business was a danger to residents in Holland.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM), in a release on Wednesday, said it suspects the company of “multiple criminal offences”. These include unlawful release of harmful substances into the air, failing in its duty of care by carrying out insufficient maintenance, operating without the required permits, and not reporting several incidents involving raw coke, a product made by heating coal.

The prosecutors said the criminal investigation began in 2022 after a lawyer filed a complaint on behalf of more than 800 people. The investigation focused on Tata Steel's steel production process and the operation of its coke gas plants.

The investigation was carried out by the Intelligence and Investigation Service of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT-IOD), with support from the environmental criminal investigation unit of The Hague police and the Central Environmental Management Service Rijnmond (DCMR).

"After reviewing the case file, the Public Prosecution Service is of the opinion that the criminal investigation offers sufficient grounds to initiate criminal prosecution against the company and bring the case before the court," the statement said.

The Public Prosecution Service is also carrying out a separate investigation to determine whether individuals in managerial positions can be held personally liable.

The first preliminary hearing has been scheduled for 20 November 2026 at the Amsterdam District Court, where prosecutors will announce the exact charges against Tata Steel IJmuiden.

What Tata Steel said

"The decision by the Public Prosecution Service (OM) to prosecute Tata Steel IJmuiden (TSIJ) for “allowing undercooked coke to occur” in the Coke and Gas Plants (KGF) 1 and 2 and for not reporting this in a timely manner deeply affects the company," said Tata Steel Netherlands in a statement.

The company said the case relates to allegations of "allowing undercooked coke to occur" at its two coke and gas plants and not reporting the incidents in time. It said occasional batches of undercooked coke, which can result in short-term peak emissions, are technically unavoidable in a large-scale industrial process producing around 135,000 batches of coke every year.

Tata Steel said it has been in discussions with the North Sea Canal Area Environmental Service on the issue for several years and has implemented improvements since 2020.

According to the company, these measures have reduced incidents of undercooked coke by 98%, with only one such instance recorded in 2023 and none in 2024 or 2025. It added that it considers the allegations to be "fundamentally unjustified" and said it would present its defence during the court proceedings.

The summons comes less than two months after Tata Steel warned that its Netherlands business continued to face a difficult regulatory environment. The company had said local authorities were considering revoking operating permits and pushing for the early closure of its coke and gas plants at the IJmuiden site over environmental concerns. Tata Steel Netherlands also said it had paid more than €20 million in penalties during FY26 related to emissions from its facilities.

In September last year, Tata Steel had also signed a non-binding agreement with the Netherlands government to receive up to €2 billion of financial aid to reduce emissions at its Dutch facility.

Tata Steel, India’s largest steelmaker by capacity, came to own both the IJmuiden plant and Port Talbot in the UK as part of its 2007 acquisition of Europe's Corus Steel. The IJmuiden plant has a capacity of 7 million tonnes per annum.