Facts
On June 5, 2018, Swisscom (Switzerland) AG submitted a building permit application for the construction of a 6 m high mobile communications facility with nine transmitting antennas on a property in Steffisburg. Three of the antennas are adaptive antennas that are to be operated according to the new 5G mobile communications standard. 74 objections were filed against the construction project. The municipal council of Steffisburg granted the building permit with a final decision dated January 18, 2019, subject to conditions and dismissal of the objections. [A.] and [B.] filed a complaint against the decision. The Construction, Transport and Energy Directorate of the Canton of Bern partially upheld the complaint and ordered additional conditions. [A.] and [B.] filed a complaint against this decision with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Bern, which dismissed the complaint. Thereupon, [A.] and [B.] filed a public law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court. They request that the building permit for the erection of the mobile communications antenna be refused. Alternatively, the administrative court's judgment should be set aside and the matter remanded to the municipal council of Steffisburg for re-assessment.Considerations
1. The Federal Supreme Court examines whether cantonal law and the precautionary principle under the Environmental Protection Act have been complied with. It concludes that the lower instances have correctly applied cantonal law and that there is no violation of the precautionary principle. The appellants cannot show that the competent specialist authorities have remained inactive in the face of a scientifically proven or experience-based hazard or nuisance and have failed to request or make a necessary adjustment of the limit values. 2. With regard to the consideration of the variability of the transmitter directions and antenna diagrams for adaptive antennas, the Federal Supreme Court concludes that the authorities' approach is in compliance with the NIRO. The "worst case" consideration, in which the maximum transmit power is assumed in all directions, is permissible until a…