Genovaitė Valčiukienė and Others v Pakruojo rajono savivaldybė and Others.
Date: 2011-09-22
37. As is clear from Article 1 of Directive 2001/42, the fundamental objective of that directive is to ensure that plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment are subject to an environmental assessment when they are prepared and prior to their adoption.
42. As the sectors concerned are all very broad, any other interpretation would have the effect of appreciably restricting the field of application of that provision and therefore jeopardising the fundamental objective pursued by Directive 2001/42. The consequence of such an interpretation would be that major projects might not be covered by that directive if they concerned only one subject of economic activity.
45. In that regard, it must be pointed out that the examination methods referred to in Article 3(5) of Directive 2001/42 are designed to facilitate the specification of plans that require assessment because they are likely to have significant environmental effects.
46. The margin of discretion enjoyed by Member States pursuant to Article 3(5) of Directive 2001/42 to specify certain types of plans which are likely to have significant environmental effects is limited by the requirement under Article 3(3) of that directive, in conjunction with Article 3(2), to subject the plans likely to have significant effects on the environment to environmental assessment, in particular on account of their characteristics, their effects and the areas likely to be affected.
47. Consequently, a Member State which establishes a criterion which leads, in practice, to an entire class of plans being exempted in advance from the requirement of environmental assessment would exceed the limits of its discretion under Article 3(5) of Directive 2001/42, in conjunction with Article 3(2) and (3), unless all plans exempted could, on the basis of relevant criteria such as, inter alia, their objective, the extent of the territory covered or the sensitivity of the landscape concerned, be regarded as not being likely to have significant effects on the environment (see, to that effect, in respect of the margin of discretion accorded to Member States pursuant to Article 4(2) of Directive 85/337, Case C‑427/07 Commission  v Ireland  [2009] ECR I‑6277, paragraph 42 and the case-law cited).
53. Lastly, it should be noted that rules such as those in point 3.4 of the Schedule established by Decree No 967 not only undermine the objective of Directive 2001/42 and, in particular, Article 3(2), (3) and (5) thereof which aims to not exempt any plan likely to have significant effects on the environment from the requirement of environmental assessment, but also do not in the least ensure that the competent authorities will take the criteria established in Annex II to Directive 2001/42 into account, as in fact is required by the second sentence of Article 3(5) of that directive in order to ensure that plans with likely significant effects on the environment are covered by  it.
62. Under those circumstances, it is for the referring court to assess whether the assessment which, in the main proceedings, was carried out pursuant to Directive 85/337 may be considered to be the result of a coordinated or joint procedure and whether it already complies with all the requirements of Directive 2001/42. If that were to be the case, there would then no longer be an obligation to carry out a new assessment pursuant to Directive 2001/42.