Case C-444/15: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 21 December 2016 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per il Veneto — Italy) — Associazione Italia Nostra Onlus v Comune di Venezia and Others (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Environment — Directive 2001/42/EC — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Article 3(3) — Plans and programmes which require an environmental assessment only where the Member States determine that they are likely to have significant environmental effects — Validity in the light of the TFEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Meaning of use of ‘small areas at local level’ — National legislation referring to the size of the areas concerned)
Date: 2016-12-21
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU programme, biotope, environmental impact, environmental protection, law of states, town and country planning








C_2017053EN.01001501.xml










20.2.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 53/15





Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 21 December 2016 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per il Veneto — Italy) — Associazione Italia Nostra Onlus v Comune di Venezia and Others
(Case C-444/15) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Environment - Directive 2001/42/EC - Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment - Article 3(3) - Plans and programmes which require an environmental assessment only where the Member States determine that they are likely to have significant environmental effects - Validity in the light of the TFEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Meaning of use of ‘small areas at local level’ - National legislation referring to the size of the areas concerned))
(2017/C 053/17)
Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Tribunale amministrativo regionale per il Veneto

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Associazione Italia Nostra Onlus

Defendants: Comune di Venezia, Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Regione Veneto, Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti, Ministero della Difesa — Capitaneria di Porto di Venezia, Agenzia del Demanio

Intervener: Società Ca’ Roman Srl

Operative part of the judgment







1.


The examination of the first question referred has disclosed no factor of such a kind as to affect the validity of Article 3(3) of Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, in the light of the provisions of the TFEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.










2.


Article 3(3) of Directive 2001/42, read in conjunction with recital 10 of that directive, must be interpreted to the effect that the term ‘small areas at local level’ in paragraph 3 must be defined with reference to the size of the area concerned where the following conditions are fulfilled:






—


the plan or programme is prepared and/or adopted by a local authority, as opposed to a regional or national authority, and










—


that area inside the territorial jurisdiction of the local authority is small in size relative to that territorial jurisdiction.










(1)  OJ C 381, 16.11.2015.