Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2016:665
Date: 2016-09-08
Language of the case: Italian
Subject matter: Environment
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 21 December 2016 1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Clearly irrelevant questions and hypothetical questions put in a context not permitting a useful answer — Questions bearing no relation to the subject matter of the case in the main proceedings — Lack of jurisdiction of the Court (Art. 267 TFEU) 2. Environment — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Directive 2001/42 — Scope — Exemption from an environmental assessment of the plans and programmes determining the use of small areas at local level — Condition — Determination by the Member State concerned that there are no significant effects on the environment — No incompatibility with Article 191 TFEU — No infringement of Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 191 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 37; European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42, recital 10 and Art. 3(3)) 3. EU law — Interpretation — Provision not containing any express reference to the law of the Member States — Independent and uniform interpretation (European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42, Art. 3(3)) 4. Environment — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Directive 2001/42 — Scope — Exemption from an environmental assessment of the plans and programmes determining the use of small areas at local level — Meaning of small areas at local level (European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42, recital 10 and Art. 3(3)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 36) 2. It follows from Article 3(3) of Directive 2001/42 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, read in conjunction with recital 10 of that directive, that, for plans and programmes which determine the use of small areas at local level, the competent authorities of the Member State concerned must carry out a prior examination of whether a particular plan or programme is likely to have significant effects on the environment and that those authorities must then require an environmental assessment of that plan or programme, pursuant to that directive, if they reach the conclusion that the plan or programme is likely to have such effects on the environment. By not excluding any plan or programme likely to have significant effects on the environment from an environmental assessment under that directive, that provision falls within the scope of the objective pursued by that directive of providing a high level of environmental protection. In that regard, it is for the Member States to take, within the sphere of their competence, all the general or particular measures necessary to ensure that all plans or programmes likely to have significant environmental effects within the meaning of Directive 2001/42 are subject, before adoption, to an environmental assessment in accordance with the procedural requirements and the criteria laid down by that directive. In any event, the mere risk that the national authorities, through their conduct, could circumvent the application of Directive 2001/42, is not such as to render Article 3(3) of that directive invalid. Accordingly, it does not appear that the Parliament and the Council, by adopting Article 3(3) of Directive 2001/42, committed a manifest error of assessment in the light of Article 191 TFEU. Therefore, that provision has revealed nothing which could affect its validity in the light of Article 191 TFEU. It follows that it also reveals nothing which could affect its validity in the light of Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. (see paras 50, 56, 58-60, 63, 64, operative part 1) 3. See the text of the decision. (see para. 66) 4. Article 3(3) of Directive 2001/42 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, read in conjunction with recital 10 of that directive, must be interpreted to the effect that the term ‘small areas at local level’ in paragraph 3 must be defined with reference to the size of the area concerned where the following conditions are fulfilled: – the plan or programme is prepared and/or adopted by a local authority, as opposed to a regional or national authority, and – that area inside the territorial jurisdiction of the local authority is small in size relative to that territorial jurisdiction. (see para. 74, operative part 2)