Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2010:127
Date: 2010-03-09
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: Grand Chamber
Subject matter: Environment;Pollution
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 1. Environment – Prevention and remedying of environmental damage – Environmental liability – Directive 2004/35 – Remedial measures (European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/35, Arts 7 and 11(4) and Annex II, Section 1.3.1) 2. Environment – Prevention and remedying of environmental damage – Environmental liability – Directive 2004/35 – Remedial measures (European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/35) 1. Articles 7 and 11(4) of Directive 2004/35 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage, in conjunction with Annex II to the directive, must be interpreted as permitting the competent authority to alter substantially measures for remedying environmental damage which were chosen at the conclusion of a procedure carried out on a consultative basis with the operators concerned and which have already been implemented or begun to be put into effect. However, in order to adopt such a decision, that authority: - is required to give the operators on whom such measures are imposed the opportunity to be heard, except where the urgency of the environmental situation requires immediate action on the part of the competent authority; - is also required to invite, inter alia, the persons on whose land those measures are to be carried out to submit their observations and to take them into account; and - must take account of the criteria set out in Section 1.3.1. of Annex II to Directive 2004/35 and state in its decision the grounds on which its choice is based, and, where appropriate, the grounds which justify the fact that there was no need for a detailed examination in the light of those criteria or that it was not possible to carry out such an examination due, for example, to the urgency of the environmental situation. (see para. 67, operative part 1) 2. Directive 2004/35 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage does not preclude national legislation which permits the competent authority to make the exercise by operators at whom environmental recovery measures are directed of the right to use their land subject to the condition that they carry out the works required by the authority, even though that land is not affected by those measures because it has already been decontaminated or has never been polluted. However, such a measure must be justified by the objective of preventing a deterioration of the environmental situation in the area in which those measures are implemented or, pursuant to the precautionary principle, by the objective of preventing the occurrence or resurgence of further environmental damage on the land belonging to the operators which is adjacent to the whole shoreline at which those remedial measures are directed. (see para. 92, operative part 2)