Case C-227/01

Commission of the European Communities

v

Kingdom of Spain

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Directive 85/337/EEC – Assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment – Incorrect implementation – Project for a Valencia-Tarragona railway line, Las Palmas-Oropesa section)

Summary of the Judgment

1. Community law – Interpretation – Texts in several languages – Uniform interpretation – Differences between the various language versions – General scheme and purpose of the rules in question as the basis for reference

2. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 – Scope – Doubling of an already existing railway track involving a new track route – Included

(Council Directive 85/337, Annex I, para. 7, and Annex II, para. 12)

3. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Objective character – Taking into consideration of an incorrect interpretation of a Community law – Excluded

(Art. 226 EC)

4. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 – Applicability – Relevant test

(Council Directive 85/337)

1. The need for a uniform interpretation of Community law requires, in the case of divergence between different language versions of a provision, that it be interpreted by reference to the purpose and general scheme of the rules of which it forms part.

(see para. 45)

2. A project such as the doubling of an already existing railway track can have a significant effect on the environment within the meaning of Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, since it is likely to have lasting effects on, for example, flora and fauna, the composition of soil or even on the landscape and produce significant noise effects, inter alia, so that it must be included in the scope of the directive. Accordingly, a project of that sort cannot be considered a mere modification to an earlier project within the meaning of point 12 of Annex II to Directive 85/337, but is covered by paragraph 7 of Annex I of the directive in which the projects subject to an assessment of the effects on the environment are listed.

That conclusion is all the more obvious when the execution of the project at issue involves a new track route, even if that applies only to part of the project. Such a construction project is by its nature likely to have significant effects on the environment within the meaning of Directive 85/337.

(see paras 48-50)

3. An action for failure to fulfil obligations brought under Article 226 EC is objective in nature and the fact that the failure to fulfil obligations complained of results from a Member State’s incorrect interpretation of the Community-law provisions cannot preclude the Court from declaring that there has been such a failure.

(see para. 58)

4. The relevant criterion for the implementation of Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment is based on the significant effect that a particular project is ‘likely’ to have on the environment. Under those conditions, it is not for the Commission to establish the concrete negative effects that a project in fact has on the environment.

(see para. 59)