Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337

(Council Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, Arts 2(1) and 4(1), and Annex I, para. 10)

2. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337

(Council Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, Arts 2(1) and 4(1), and Annex I)

3. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337

(Council Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, Arts 2(1) and 4(3), and Annexes II and III)

Summary

1. The concept of waste disposal for the purpose of Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 97/11, is an independent concept which must be given a meaning which fully satisfies the objective pursued by that measure, which, as is clear from Article 2(1), is that, before consent is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location should be made subject to an assessment with regard to their effects. Accordingly, that concept, which is not equivalent to that of waste disposal for the purpose of Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156 and by Decision 96/350, must be construed in the wider sense as covering all operations leading either to waste disposal, in the strict sense of the term, or to waste recovery.

As a result, an installation for energy production through the incineration of combustible materials derived from waste and biomass which has a capacity exceeding 100 tonnes per day, comes into the category of disposal installations for the incineration or chemical treatment of non‑hazardous waste in point 10 of Annex I to Directive 85/337. As such, before being authorised, it does not have to undergo the environmental impact assessment procedure, since the projects which fall within Annex I must undergo a systematic assessment under Articles 2(1) and 4(1) of that directive.

(see paras 44-45)

2. By adopting national rules allowing projects for the recovery of hazardous and non-hazardous waste with a capacity exceeding 100 tonnes per day covered by Annex I to the directive to avoid the environmental impact assessment procedure provided for in Articles 2(1) and 4(1) of that directive if authorised by a simplified procedure in accordance with Article 11 of Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156 and Decision 96/350, a Member State fails to fulfil its obligations under Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 97/11.

(see para. 50)

3. Member States may establish the criteria and/or thresholds necessary to determine which of the projects covered by Annex II to Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 97/11, are to be subject to an assessment. However, the discretion thus granted to the Member States is limited by the obligation, set out in Article 2(1) of that directive, to subject projects likely to have significant effects on the environment, particularly by virtue of their nature, size or location, to an assessment with regard to their effects. Accordingly, when establishing those thresholds and/or criteria, Member States must take account not only of the size of projects, but also of their nature and location. In addition, in accordance with Article 4(3) of Directive 85/337, the Member States are under an obligation to take into account, when establishing those criteria or thresholds, the relevant selection criteria defined in Annex III to that directive.

Therefore, by excluding projects for waste recovery installations from the environmental impact assessment, which must take place before the delivery of the decision of the competent authority or authorities which entitles the developer to proceed with the project, on the basis of the simplified procedure, national legislation does not take into account all the selection criteria laid down in Annex III to Directive 85/337. As a result, the criterion adopted by that national legislation, connected exclusively with the implementation of the simplified procedures, in order to exempt installations for waste recovery covered by point 11(b) of Annex II to Directive 85/337 from the assessment of environmental effects does not fulfil the requirements of that directive set out above in so far as it can lead to projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of their size or location being exempt from an assessment of their environmental effects.

(see paras 53-55, 58-59)