More than 200 people who opposed the installation of Linky meters in their homes were dismissed on Tuesday in Bordeaux, with a flat for 13 of them, considered "electro-hypersensitive", for which the judge has enjoined to Enedis to put a protective "filter".
Enedis plans to appeal
Enedis "is planning to appeal this decision," she said in the early evening. For the EDF subsidiary, the decision of the Bordeaux court "confirms both the principle of replacing meters and our listening approach to some of our customers who declare themselves electro-sensitive." These are cases "extremely rare for which our teams implement personalized support and adapted to each particular situation," says Enedis. The company recalls that "all the measurements carried out by the independent organizations highlight levels of electric and magnetic fields very much lower than the regulatory limits".
The judge of the emergency court had been seized by 206 claimants, gathered for some associations, who called for the cessation of deployment or withdrawal of these "smart meters" controversy, citing health reasons, an infringement of free choice, privacy, or the lack of professionalism of the posers.
Thirteen of the applicants considered "electro sensitive"
For the judge, it appears that the applicants "do not justify the existence of a clearly unlawful disorder, whether in relation to the right to consumption or the RGPD" (General Regulation on Data Protection). "They also do not justify any imminent damage, whether in relation to their health, the safety of people and property or the quality of work required of installers," he adds.
On the other hand, the judge hearing the application for interim relief considered that thirteen of the applicants who had, with medical certificates in support, invoked symptoms (headaches, insomnia, in particular) at the hearing in March, "justify a manifestly unlawful disorder. by failure of a precautionary principle ", because the installation of a Linky was done at home" without the installation of a filter protecting them from electromagnetic fields ". In their case, he therefore condemned Enedis to put under two months a "filter device protecting them" from these fields. The plaintiffs have been dismissed from their other claims and the proceedings will proceed on the merits.
A "first brief" open
Their lawyer, Pierre Hurmic, praised "a first breach in what was until now the dominant thought", namely that "electromagnetic fields, even when there is a 'cocktail of fields', there is no danger". "There, precisely, the judge says 'in some cases, it can be considered as a danger to public health'".
Mr. Hurmic, however, regretted a "shy, incomplete breach" because it "does not prohibit the pose" and "concerns only a few applicants". He referred to the "more daring" decision of the interlocutory judge in Toulouse in March, where thirteen people suffering from hypersensitivity to the airwaves had obtained the right not to be equipped against their will with a Linky.
At the hearing, Enedis' lawyer had assured that the Linky meters were developing "no more significant effect than other everyday objects", such as baby phones, smartphones, induction hobs, wi -fi, etc.
The Linky meter, of which Enedis is piloting the installation to remotely and directly monitor consumption, has been the subject of recurring controversies since its deployment in 2015. Twenty-two courts have been seized of joint actions. The vast majority of complainants, several hundred to date, have been dismissed - in Rennes, Toulouse, Bordeaux - except for a handful of "electrosensibles".