CELEX: 62011CA0258
Language: en
Date: 2013-04-11 00:00:00
Title: Case C-258/11: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 11 April 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court — Ireland) — Peter Sweetman and Others v An Bord Pleanála (Environment — Directive 92/43/EEC — Article 6 — Conservation of natural habitats — Special areas of conservation — Assessment of the implications for a protected site of a plan or project — Criteria to be applied when assessing the likelihood that such a plan or project will adversely affect the integrity of the site concerned — Lough Corrib site — N6 Galway City Outer Bypass road scheme)

1.6.2013   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 156/4
            
         Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 11 April 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court — Ireland) — Peter Sweetman and Others v An Bord Pleanála
   (Case C-258/11) (1)
   
   (Environment - Directive 92/43/EEC - Article 6 - Conservation of natural habitats - Special areas of conservation - Assessment of the implications for a protected site of a plan or project - Criteria to be applied when assessing the likelihood that such a plan or project will adversely affect the integrity of the site concerned - Lough Corrib site - N6 Galway City Outer Bypass road scheme)
   2013/C 156/06
   Language of the case: English
   
      Referring court
   
   Supreme Court
   
      Parties to the main proceedings
   
   
      Appellants: Peter Sweetman, Ireland, Attorney General, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government
   
      Respondent: An Bord Pleanála
   
      Re:
   
   Request for a preliminary ruling — Supreme Court, Ireland — Interpretation of Article 6(3) and (4) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ 1992 L 206, p. 7) — Assessment of the implications for a protected site of a plan or project — Criteria to be applied when assessing the likelihood that such a plan or such a project will adversely affect the integrity of the site concerned — Consequences of application of the precautionary principle — Construction of a road whose route crosses an area proposed as a special area of conservation
   
      Operative part of the judgment
   
   Article 6(3) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora must be interpreted as meaning that a plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of a site will adversely affect the integrity of that site if it is liable to prevent the lasting preservation of the constitutive characteristics of the site that are connected to the presence of a priority natural habitat whose conservation was the objective justifying the designation of the site in the list of sites of Community importance, in accordance with the directive. The precautionary principle should be applied for the purposes of that appraisal.
   
      (1)  OJ C 226, 30.7.2011.