Tata Steel has been threatened by Dutch authorities with fines and the forced shutdown of one of its IJmuiden coke factories if it does not drastically cut harmful emissions over the next 12 months.

Failure to take action at its Coke pla will result in fines of about €27 million ($28 million) for Tata Steel Netherlands.Written by Charlotte Hughes-Morgan.

Tata Steel has been threatened by Dutch authorities with fines and the forced shutdown of one of its IJmuiden coke factories if it does not drastically cut harmful emissions over the next 12 months.

The North Sea Canal Area Environment Agency announced on Thursday that Tata Steel Netherlands will be fined around €27 million ($28 million) if it does not take action at its coke plants within eight weeks. The regulator stated that the plants' emissions of heavy metals and volatile organic compounds are still above the permissible level.

Additionally, if the corporation doesn't follow the law at one of the facilities within a year, the regulator may revoke its authorization and force the coke factory to close "within a reasonable period." Tata Steel has six weeks to submit a plan of action.

Tata Steel posted a statement on its website stating, "We find the way these decisions were made very painful." According to the firm, the suggested eight-week recovery period is "completely unrealistic and impossible."

Fearing the loss of thousands of jobs at one of the leading industrial employers in the Netherlands, the Dutch government has long attempted to strike a balance between economic and environmental interests while regulating Tata Steel's largest steelworks outside of India.