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Article 5 of that decree, entitled ‘Assessment of Implications’, provides: ‘1. Territorial planning and programming must take into account the ecological and environmental value of proposed sites of Community importance, sites of Community importance and special areas of conservation. 2. The proponents of territorial, planning and sectoral plans … shall prepare … a study to identify and assess the effects which the plan may have on the site, taking into account its conservation objectives. Territorial plans that are required to undergo an impact assessment shall be submitted to the Minister for Environment and Protection of Land, where they are of national significance, and to the competent regions and autonomous provinces, where they are of regional, interregional, provincial or municipal significance. 3. The proponents of works not directly connected with or necessary to maintaining a favourable conservation status for the species and habitats present on the site, but which may have a significant effect on the site itself, either on their own or in conjunction with other works, shall submit, for the purposes of the assessment of implications, a study designed to identify and assess, in accordance with the guidelines defined in Annex G, the main effects which those works may have on the proposed site of Community importance, on the site of Community importance or on the special area of conservation, taking into account the conservation objectives of those sites. 4. For projects subject to the environmental impact assessment procedure … which concern … proposed sites of Community importance, sites of Community importance or the special areas of conservation, as defined in the present regulation, the assessment of implications shall be included within the scope of the abovementioned procedure which, in such a case, shall also consider the projects’ direct and indirect effects on the habitats and species on account of which those sites and areas were designated. To that end, the environmental impact study prepared by the proponent must include the factors relating to whether the project is compatible with the conservation aims provided for by the present regulation … … 8. Before issuing the final approval of the plan or action, the authority shall include the impact assessment in the file and, where applicable, shall determine the arrangements for consulting the public concerned by implementation of that plan or action. 9. If, in spite of a negative assessment of the implications for the site and in the absence of alternative solutions, a plan or project must nevertheless be carried out for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, including those of a social or economic nature, the competent authorities shall take all compensatory measures necessary to ensure that the overall coherence of the “Natura 2000” network is protected and it shall inform the Minister for the Environment and Protection of Land of those measures for the purposes described in Article 13. 10. Where the sites concerned host priority natural habitat types and priority species, the plan or action which has been assessed as having a negative impact on the site of Community importance, may be carried out only by reference to requirements relating to human health or public safety, beneficial consequences of primary importance for the environment or, further to an opinion from the European Commission, for other imperative reasons of overriding public interest.’