The Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) said Tata Steel was suspected of violating its duty of care by carrying out insufficient maintenance, operating without a permit, and failing to report a number of incidents involving raw coke.
The prosecutors said the criminal investigation was launched following a complaint filed by a lawyer on behalf of more than 800 complainants.
The investigation was conducted by the Intelligence and Investigation Service of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, with support from the environmental criminal investigation unit of The Hague police and the Central Environmental Management Service Rijnmond.
After reviewing the case file, the Public Prosecution Service said it believed the investigation provided sufficient grounds to initiate criminal proceedings against the company and bring the case before the court.
In addition to prosecuting Tata Steel, the Public Prosecution Service is conducting a separate investigation into whether individuals in managerial roles may also be held personally liable. However, it decided to summon the company now to avoid delaying the criminal case.
A first preliminary hearing has been scheduled for November 20 at the Amsterdam District Court, where the Public Prosecution Service will announce the charges against Tata Steel.
Tata Steel calls charges “unjustified”
Tata Steel Netherlands said the decision by the Public Prosecution Service to prosecute TSIJ for “allowing undercooked coke to occur” at coke and gas plants (KGF) 1 and 2, and for failing to report it in a timely manner, deeply affected the company.
TSIJ said it had for some time been engaged in discussions with the North Sea Canal Area Environmental Service, the relevant supervisory authority, regarding the occurrence of so-called “undercooked coke”.
The company said it sought to minimise such incidents, but occasional instances may be technically unavoidable in industrial production on this scale, involving about 135,000 batches (pushes) a year. Therefore, it said, it could not guarantee that undercooked coke would never occur.
TSIJ added that it had held detailed technical discussions with the Environmental Services (Omgevingsdiensten) on the issue and, based on those discussions and the measures taken, had implemented “substantial and tangible improvements” since 2020.
As a result, the incidence of “undercooked coke” has fallen by 98 per cent. Between January 2020 and May this year, it averaged less than 0.011 per cent, which the company said was below the industry average.
In recent years, only a handful of cases have occurred out of around 135,000 pushes annually, with one instance in 2023 and none in 2024 and 2025. For these reasons, TSIJ said it considered the allegations “fundamentally unjustified”.
The company also said it considered criminal proceedings unnecessary over a limited number of past KGF incidents that had since been addressed through technical improvements.
TSIJ said it was reviewing the allegations and would present a substantive defence during the court proceedings.
The company also observed that KGF 1 and 2 would be fully closed in the coming years under the Green Steel Project, through which TSIJ plans to transition to a more sustainable steelmaking process.
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Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) to prosecute Tata Steel Ijmuiden over ‘intentional and unlawful’ pollution
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Public Prosecution Service is of the opinion that there are sufficient grounds to initiate criminal prosecution against the company
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First preliminary hearing scheduled for November 20 this year
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Tata Steel considers the allegations ‘fundamentally unjustified’
 "Tata Steel Ltd. plant in IJmuiden, Netherlands")