WRITTEN QUESTION E-0683/03

by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission

(7 March 2003)

Subject: Failure of Spanish legislation on coastlines to comply with community provisions on public involvement

Spanish Law 53/2002 of 30 December, on fiscal, administrative and social measures, amends specific provisions of Law 22/1988, of 28 July, on Coastlines.

The drafting and adoption of this back-up legislation was done with a total non-involvement of citizens and directly affected sectors.

Given that many of these sectors have spoken out in protest, claiming that the amended legislation has severely lowered the level of protection available for the coastline, does the Commission not believe that Kingdom of Spain has adopted this legislation in direct violation of the provisions on public information and information contained in Directives 85/337/EEC(1) and 90/313/EEC(2) and subsequent amendments thereto?

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

(2) OJ L 158, 23.6.1990, p. 56.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(5 May 2003)

The question put forward by the Honourable Member whether the adoption of Spanish legislation on coastlines has violated provisions of both Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997(1) and of Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to information on the environment, gives rise to the following observations.

Directive 85/337/EEC applies to the assessment of the environmental effects of those public and private projects that are likely to have significant effects on the environment. For the purposes of this Directive, project means either the execution of construction works or of other installations or schemes, or other interventions in the natural surroundings and landscape including those involving the extraction of mineral resources. It is clear from this definition that the preparation and adoption of legislation does not fall within the scope of Directive 85/337/EEC.

Directive 90/313/EEC obliges public authorities to reply to requests for access to environmental information. Draft legislation that is capable of affecting the environment, could fall within the definition of 'information relating to the environment. Apart from the obligation to provide general information to the public on the state of environment, this Directive does not contain obligations for public authorities to actively disseminate information relating to the environment. The information put forward by the Honourable Member does not contain any information as to the fact that a request for access to the environmental information was addressed to the competent public authorities and whether or not access was given. In the absence of such information, the Commission cannot say that the provisions of this Directive have been violated.

On the basis of the above observations, the Commission concludes that the subject in question does not fall within the scope of Directive 85/337/EEC and that it cannot be concluded that the provisions of Directive 90/313/EEC have been violated.

(1) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.