CELEX: C2004/228/25
Language: en
Date: 2004-09-11 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 15 July 2004 in Case C-213/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling by the Cour de cassation): Syndicat professionnel coordination des pêcheurs de l'étang de Berre et de la region v Électricité de France (EDF) (Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention — Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-based Sources — Article 6(3) — Authorisation to discharge — Direct effect)

11.9.2004   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 228/13
            
         
      JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
   
   (Second Chamber)
   of 15 July 2004
   in Case C-213/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling by the Cour de cassation): Syndicat professionnel coordination des pêcheurs de l'étang de Berre et de la region v Électricité de France (EDF) (1)
   
   (Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention - Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-based Sources - Article 6(3) - Authorisation to discharge - Direct effect)
   (2004/C 228/25)
   Language of the case: French
   In Case C-213/03: reference to the Court under Article 234 EC by the Cour de cassation (France) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between Syndicat professionnel coordination des pêcheurs de l'étang de Berre et de la region and Électricité de France (EDF) — on the interpretation of Article 6(3) of the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-based Sources, signed in Athens on 17 May 1980, approved by Council Decision 83/101/EEC of 28 February 1983 (OJ 1983 L 67, p. 1), and of Article 6(1) of the Protocol as amended at the Conference of Plenipotentiaries held in Syracuse on 7 and 8 March 1996, which amendments were approved by Council Decision 1999/801/EC of 22 October 1999 (OJ 1999 L 322, p. 18) — the Court (Second Chamber), composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann, J.-P. Puissochet, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues and R. Schintgen (Rapporteur), Judges; D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Advocate General; M. Múgica Arzamendi, Principal Administrator, has given a judgment on 15 July 2004, the operative part of which is as follows:
   
               1.
            
            
               Article 6(3) of the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-based Sources, signed in Athens on 17 May 1980, approved by Council Decision 83/101/EEC of 28 February 1983 and, following its entry into force, Article 6(1) of the Protocol as amended at the Conference of Plenipotentiaries held in Syracuse on 7 and 8 March 1996, which amendments were approved by Council Decision 1999/801/EC of 22 October 1999, have direct effect, so that any interested party is entitled to rely on those provisions before the national courts.
            
         
               2.
            
            
               Those same provisions must be interpreted as prohibiting, without an authorisation issued by the national competent authorities, the discharge into a saltwater marsh communicating with the Mediterranean Sea of substances which, although not toxic, have an adverse effect on the oxygen content of the marine environment.
            
         
      (1)  OJ C 158 of 5.7.2003.