Vereniging Hoekschewaards Landschap v Staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken.
Date: 2017-10-19
29


In that respect, it is important to note that the Court has ruled, with regard to Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds (OJ 1979 L 103, p. 1), that an error in the particulars forwarded to the Commission at the time of the designation of a special protection area may lead to a reduction in the size of that area by virtue of a rectification of that error (see, to that effect, judgment of 25 November 1999, Commission v France, C‑96/98, EU:C:1999:580, paragraph 55). In the case that gave rise to that judgment, the Court found that the administrative error that was made, concerning the surface area, could be rectified by adapting the protection area concerned.
30


In addition, in the absence of specific provisions in the Habitats Directive, the Court finds that the adaptation of the list of SCIs which the Member States propose to the Commission under Article 4(1) of the directive may include a reduction in the size of a site, which must be carried out following the same procedure as that for entry in that list (see, by analogy, judgment of 3 April 2014, Cascina Tre Pini, C‑301/12, EU:C:2014:214, paragraph 26).
31


In that regard, it should be noted that to produce a draft list of SCIs, capable of leading to the creation of a coherent European ecological network of SACs, the Commission must have available an exhaustive list of the sites which, at national level, have an ecological interest which is relevant from the point of view of the Habitats Directive’s objective of conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora (judgement of 7 November 2000, First Corporate Shipping, C‑371/98, EU:C:2000:600, paragraph 22).
32


Only in that way is it possible to realise the objective, in the first subparagraph of Article 3(1) of the Habitats Directive, of maintaining or restoring the natural habitat types and the species’ habitats concerned at a favourable conservation status in their natural range, which may lie across one or more frontiers inside the European Union. It follows from Article 1(e) and (i) of the directive, read in conjunction with Article 2(1) of the directive, that the favourable conservation status of a natural habitat or a species must be assessed in relation to the entire European territory of the Member States to which the Treaty applies (judgment of 7 November 2000, First Corporate Shipping, C‑371/98, EU:C:2000:600, paragraph 23).
34


That interpretation is supported by the Court’s case-law stipulating that resources should not be used in vain to manage a site that proves to be of no use to the conservation of natural habitats and species (see, to that effect, judgment of 3 April 2014, Cascina Tre Pini, C‑301/12, EU:C:2014:214, paragraph 28).
35


Nevertheless, while it is true that Member States have a certain margin of discretion when making their proposals, under Article 4(1) of the Habitats Directive, for a list of sites eligible for designation as SCIs (judgment of 3 April 2014, Cascina Tre Pini, C‑301/12, EU:C:2014:214, paragraph 27), they do not, however, have that same margin of discretion when suggesting to the Commission to reduce the size of an SCI.