COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES ^ ☆**☆***☆**
Bmssels,  01.07.1996  
SEC(96)1224  final
94/0078  (SYN)
COMMUNICATION  FROM  THE COMMISSIONTO THE EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT
pursuant  to the first subparagraph  of Article  189 c (b) of the EC-Treaty
Common  position  of the Council  on the
proposal  for a Council  Directive  amending  
Directive  85/337/TEEC  on the assessment  of the effects  
of certain  public  and private  projects  on the environment
N'iΔ
Π71996
received
*0 toto

1. Procedure
The proposal  (COM  (93) 575 final, 94/0078  SYN of 16 March  1994)  was sent to the 
Council  on 21 April 1994.
The Economic  and Social  Committee  adopted  its opinion  on 14 September  1994 (OJ 
C393,  31.12.1994,  p.l).
The Committee  of the Regions  adopted  its opinion  on 16 November  1994 (OJ C210,  
14.8.1995,  p.78).
The European  Parliament  delivered  its opinion  on a first reading  on 11 October  1995  
(OJ C287,  30.10.1995,  p. 83).
The Commission  presented  an amended  proposal  (COM  (95) 720 final)  and sent it to 
the Council  on 18 January  1996 (OJ C 81, 19.03.1996,  p. 14).
At its 1939th  meeting  on 25th June 1996,  the Council  adopted  a common  position  on 
the Directive.
2. Aim of the Directive
The Proposal  aims to improve  the environmental assessment  procedure  set out in Directive  
85/337/EEC  and to clarify  and extend  the lists of projects  to which  the Directive  applies.
3. Commission  position  on the Council ’s common  position
3.1 General  remarks
The Commission  accepted  (in whole or in part) 16 of the 58 amendments  to the 
Proposal  requested  by the Parliament;  11 of these 16 amendments  have been fully or 
partially  incorporated  into the common  position.
3.2 Specific  remarks
(A) Parliamentary  amendments  accepted  by the Commission  and incorporated  into the
common  position  :
- the amendments  to recital 1 (amendment  2), recital  3 (amendment  8), and recital  4 
(which  has become  part of recital  3) (amendment  11);
- the substitution  of a new Article  2(1) requiring  the projects  covered  by Directive  
85/337/EEC  to be subject to a requirement  for development  consent  and an 
environmental  assessment  (amendment  32);
- the substitution  of a new Article  3 setting  out the general  requirements  of an 
environmental  assessment  (amendment  25 - incorporated  in part);
- the reinstatement  in Article  5 of the minimum  list of information to be provided  bv 
the developer  (amendment  28);
- the addition  of the following  types  of project  to Annex  I ol' Directive  85/.337/I  d X ' - 
projects  relating  to nuclear  pouer stations  and fuels and to radio active waste

(amendment  44 - incorporated  in part); the incineration  of non-ha2ardous  waste  
(amendment  46); ground  water capture  schemes;  works  for the transfer  of water  
between  river  basins;  waste  water  treatment  plans;  extraction  of hydrocarbons;  dams  
and other  installations  for the holding  back  of water;  and intensive  livestock  rearing  
installations  (amendment  47 - in some  cases  thresholds  used  to define  these  projects  
have been  added  or amended);
- the addition  of  the following  types  of  project  to Annex  Π of Directive  85/337/EEC  - extraction  of minerals  by marine  drôiging;  wind farms (amendment  50); certain  
racing  and test tracks;  the storage  of scrap  vehicles;  cable  cars (amendment  51).
(B) Parliamentary  amendments  accepted  bv the Commi ssion  but not incorporated  into thecommon  position  :
- the amendments  to the second  and seventh  recital  (amendments  3 and 15) and the 
addition  of a new  recital  referring  to the Dublin  summit  (amendment  5) - the second  
recital  and the new recital referring  to the Dublin  summit  were not considered  
necessary  and the seventh  recital  was rewritten  on the basis that the revisions  to the 
transboundary  provisions  in Directive  85/337/EEC  are desirable  but not necessary  in 
a legal sense;
- the revision  of the opening  paragraph  of new  Article  7(2) (amendment  33) - Article  
7 was rewritten  and tìiis revision  was no longer  requirod;
- the addition  of a final paragraph  to Article  9 (amendment  34) - Article  9 was also 
rewritten  so that this revision  was no longer  required.
(C) New  elements  introduced  bv the Council  :
- some relatively  minor  revisions  of Article  2 of Directive  85/337/EEC  (vdiich,  in 
particular,  provide  that a single  procedure  may be used  to fulfil the requirements  of 
the 1985 Directive  and the proposed  Directive  on integrated  pollution,  prevention  and 
control  and that the power  of exemption  in Article  2(3) of the Directive  cannot  be 
used to circumvent  the transboundaiy  consultation  requirements  in Article  7);
- a revised  Article  4, vdiich  provides  that Member  States may determine  whether  
projects  listed  in Annex  Π of the Directive  have to be environmentally  assessed  by 
either  carrying  out case by case examinations  or by setting  thresholds  or criteria  and 
that ^^hen  carrying  out such examinations  or setting  such thresholds  or criteria  the 
relevant  selection  criteria  in new Annex  Π1 must be taken  into account;
- a revised  Article  5, ^^hich  makes  the new  scoping  procedure  conditional  on a request  
being  submitted  by the developer  and adds  a reference  to alternatives  to the minimum  
list of infonnation  to be provided  by developers  in every  case;
- a revised  Alide  7, wliich  incorporates  the main  principles  of the Espoo  Convention  
on environmental  impact  assessment  in a transbounda'y  context;
- revised  Articles  8, 10 and 11(2), containing  some minor  drafting  changes;
- a revised  Article  9, which  replaces  the requirement  in the I^oposal  to publish  the 
development  consent  decision  with a requirement  to infonn  the public  of the decision  
and lo make rclcvanl  infoi'niatii'n  on the decision  available;
J

- a new Article  2 of the Proposal  requiring  a further  5 year report;
- the redrafting  of points  6 and 8(b) of Annex  I and the addition  of the following  
types  of project  to that Annex  ; non - ferrous  crude  metal  installations,  dual carriage  
ways,  installations  for the chemical  treatment  of non-hazardous  waste,  ground  water  
recharge  schemes,  gas, oil and chemical  pipelines,  installations for the manufacture  
of pulp, paper  and board, quarries,  open-cast  mining  and peat extraction,  overhead  
electrical  power  lines, and storage  installations  for petroleum,  petrochemical  and 
chemical  products  (in most  cases  thresholds  have  been  used  to define  these  categories  
of project);
- the redrafting  of some  of the project  categcaies  in Annex  Π and the addition  of the 
following  projects  to that Annex  insofar  as they are not included  in Annex  I : 
extraction  of minerals  by fluvial  dredging,  installations  for asbestos  production,  
ground  water  abstraction  and ground  water  recharge  schemes,  works  for the transfer  
of water  between  river basins;
- the redrafting  of new Annex  HI (criteria  to be taken into account  when  setting  
thresholds  and criteria  or carrying  out case by case examinations  under  Article  4).
Commission  position  on new  elements  ; The Commission  considers  that the common  
position  text represents  an acceptable compromise.  The redrafting  of Article  4 of 
Directive  85/337/EEC,  read in conjunction  with the transfer  of projects  from  Annex  
II to Annex  I and the redrafting  of new Annex  ΠΙ, sets out a generally  acceptable  
mechanism  for determining  which  projects  should  be submitted  to an environmental  
assessment. Tlie extension  of Annex  I is to be particularly  welcomed.  The scoping  
provision  in Article  5(2) could be stronger  and it will be necessary  to study  closely  how well tilis provision  operates  in practice.  The Commission  agrees with the 
introduction  of a reference  to "alternatives"  in the minimum  list of information  in 
Article  5(3). The Commission  is satisfied  with new  Article  7 because  it incorporates  
the main  principles  of tlie Espoo  Convention  and applies  those  principles  to all of the 
projects  assessed  under  the Directive,  not just to those  listed  in the Convention.  The 
additions  to Annex  Π and the relatively  minor  amendments  to Article  2, 8, 9, 10, and 
11 are also acceptable  to the Commission.
4. Conclusion
file Commission  considers  that the Common  Position  text is an acceptable  compromise  which  should  
improve  the operation  of Directive  85/337/EEC.