WRITTEN QUESTION E-1206/00

by Jannis Sakellariou (PSE) to the Commission

(14 April 2000)

Subject: Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Directives

In the Bavarian legal gazette, transposing the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive 85/337/EEC(1), there is a Bavarian excavation act, Article 8 of which permits excavations in national parks and nature reserves.

1. Is a provision permitting the extraction of minerals occurring near the surface in national parks and nature reserves compatible with the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive or with the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC)(2)?

The Bavarian Minister of the Environment, in the document entitled Building in harmony with nature and landscape: rules governing interventions in urban development planning (p. 13, plate 7 and lists II and III) has permitted building on legally protected areas provided adequate compensatory measures are taken.

2. Is the destruction of natural and near-natural sections of rivers, and the building of houses on water-meadows, in long-standing brushwood and hedge country and in species-rich forests, compatible with the Habitats Directive?

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40.

(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2000)

The Commission would like to point out that it has at its disposal neither the said legislation nor the document mentioned by the Honourable Member.

With regard to both questions, it should be stressed that both Council Directives 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment and 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora do not exclude as a rule the excavation of mineral raw material within sites, which are protected under national legislation. However, if Directive 85/337/EEC applies, it sets up specific requirements such as carrying out an environmental impact assessment as well as involving the public. If sites were particularly affected, the environmental characteristics of the likely impact of the project on these sites would need to be identified and assessed and the results properly taken into account in the decision-making. With regard to Directive 92/43/EEC, it is worth noting that this directive applies in particular to sites, which are part of the network Natura 2000. If such a site is affected, it is to be assessed on a case-by-case basis if the requirements of Directive 92/43/EEC, in particular its Article 6 (such as an assessment of the implications for the site, and non-existence of alternative solutions), are to be respected. Under those Natura 2000 sites, there should be a sufficient number of sites hosting habitats as specified in Annex I of the Directive.

With regard to the document mentioned by the Honourable Member, it is worth noting that any provision granting general permits for excavations within Natura 2000 sites under the only condition of taking compensatory measures appears not to be in line with the strict provisions of Article 6.

It follows that the Commission is not yet in a position to comment in further detail on the questions put forward by the Honourable Member. The Commission invites the Honourable Member to provide the necessary information.