CELEX: C2004/262/29
Language: en
Date: 2004-10-23 00:00:00
Title: Case C-332/04: Action brought on 28 July 2004 by Commission of the European Communities against Kingdom of Spain

23.10.2004   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 262/16
            
         Action brought on 28 July 2004 by Commission of the European Communities against Kingdom of Spain
   (Case C-332/04)
   (2004/C 262/29)
   An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 28 July 2004 by the Commission of the European Communities, represented by Gregorio Valero Jordana, of its Legal Service, and by Florence Simonetti, a detached national expert assigned to that service, with an address for service in Luxembourg.
   The applicant claims that the Court should:
   
               (a)
            
            
               declare that:
               
                           —
                        
                        
                           by incompletely transposing Article 3 of Directive 85/337/EEC (1) of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 97/11/EC, (2)
                           
                        
                     
                           —
                        
                        
                           by failing to transpose Article 9(1) of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended,
                        
                     
                           —
                        
                        
                           by infringing the transitional rules laid down by Article 3 of Directive 97/11/EC,
                        
                     
                           —
                        
                        
                           by failing correctly to transpose point 10(b) of Annex II to Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended, in conjunction with Article 2(1) and Article 4(2), and
                        
                     
                           —
                        
                        
                           by failing to subject to the impact assessment procedure the plans for the construction of a leisure centre at Paterna (Valencia) and, consequently, by failing to apply Articles 2(1), 3, 4(2), 8 and 9 of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended,
                        
                     the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under those directives;
            
         
               (b)
            
            
               order the kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   The Spanish legislation amending domestic law so as to make it conform with Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended by Directive 97/11/EC, comprising essentially Royal Legislative Decree No 1302/1986 of 28 June 1986, on environmental impact evaluation, as amended by Law No 6/2001 of 8 May 2001, does not require the environmental impact assessment to evaluate the foreseeable effects of the interaction of various environmental factors with each other, contrary to the requirements of Article 3 of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended.
   The Spanish legislation does not include an obligation to render public the administrative decision to grant or withhold authorisation for implementation of the project, the terms of the decision and the conditions attached to it, contrary to the requirements of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended.
   Articles 3(1) and (2) of Directive 97/11/EC state that the provisions of that Directive are to be applied to new projects for which authorisation is sought on or after 14 March 1999. The Spanish legislation breaches that Community provision since it does not apply to private projects for which the administrative authorisation procedure is pending or to public projects already at the public information stage or already approved before 8 October 2000.
   Annex II to Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended, includes in Point 10(b), among the projects which may have to be the subject of an environmental impact assessment, urban-development projects, including the construction of shopping centres and parking facilities. The Spanish legislation reduces that requirement so as to apply only to projects outside urban areas. The Commission considers that that reduction of scope, which generally excludes the taking into consideration of criteria or thresholds relating to the dimensions and nature of the projects, goes beyond the degree of latitude available to the Member States under Articles 2(1) and 4(2) of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended. In addition, it is clear from an analysis of the State and Autonomous Community legislation on town planning and of the Autonomous Community legislation on environmental impact assessments that urban-development projects on urban land and developable land are not, in most of the Autonomous Communities, subject to environmental impact assessment.
   Because the domestic legislation was not properly amended so as to conform with Annex II to Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended, the Spanish authorities did not carry out an environmental impact assessment for a leisure centre at Paterna (Valencia), the only explanation given for not doing so being that it was to be constructed in an urban area.
   
      (1)  OJ L 175 of 5.7.1985, p. 40.
   
      (2)  Council Directive of 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/EEC, OJ L 73 of 14.3.1997, p. 5.