Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2006:286
Date: 2006-05-04
Language of the case: English
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Environment;Approximation of laws
Concepts: Environment
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 1. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 (Council Directive 85/337, Art. 1(2)) 2. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 (Council Directive 85/337, Arts 1(2), 2(1), and 4(2)) 1. Article 1(2) of Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment defines ‘development consent’ for the purposes of the directive as the decision of the competent authority or authorities which entitles the developer to proceed with the project. That term, which is a Community concept, refers to the decision which allows the developer to commence the works for carrying out his project. (see paras 39-41, 45, operative part 1) 2. According to Article 2(1) of Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment, as referred to in Article 4 of the directive read in conjunction with Annexes I and II thereto, must be made subject to an assessment with regard to their effects before development consent is given. Where national law provides for a consent procedure comprising more than one stage, one involving a principal decision and the other involving an implementing decision which cannot extend beyond the parameters set by the principal decision, the effects which a project may have on the environment must, as a rule, be identified and assessed at the time of the procedure relating to the principal decision. If those effects are not, however, identifiable until the time of the procedure relating to the implementing decision, the assessment is to be carried out in the course of that procedure. It follows that Articles 2(1) and 4(2) of Directive 85/337, which impose the obligation on the Member States to carry out environmental impact assessments, are to be interpreted as requiring such an assessment to be carried out if, in the case of grant of consent comprising more than one stage, it becomes apparent, in the course of the second stage, that the project is likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue inter alia of its nature, size or location. (see paras 43, 47, 49, operative part 2)