Grand Duchy of Luxemburg v Berthe Linster, Aloyse Linster and Yvonne Linster.
Date: 2000-09-19
32 In that regard the Court has held in a number of cases that it would be incompatible with the binding effect conferred on directives by that provision to exclude, as a matter of principle, any possibility for those concerned to rely on the obligation which directives impose. Particularly where the Community authorities have, by directive, imposed on Member States the obligation to pursue a particular course of conduct, the effectiveness of such an act would be diminished if individuals were prevented from relying on it in legal proceedings and if national courts were prevented from taking it into consideration as a matter of Community law in determining whether the national legislature, in exercising its choice as to the form and methods for implementing the directive, had kept within the limits of its discretion set by the directive (see Case 51/76 Verbond van Nederlandse Ondernemingen v Inspecteur der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen [1977] ECR 113, paragraphs 22, 23 and 24, Kraaijeveld and Others, cited above, paragraph 56, and Case C-435/97 WWF and Others v Autonome Provinz Bozen and Others [1999] ECR I-5613, paragraph 69).
37 However, this discretion, which a Member State may exercise when transposing that provision into national law, does not preclude judicial review of the question whether it has been exceeded by the national authorities (see, in particular, Verbond van Nederlandse Ondernemingen, cited above, paragraphs 27, 28 and 29, and Kraaijeveld and Others, cited above, paragraph 59).
43 The need for uniform application of Community law and the principle of equality require that the terms of a provision of Community law which makes no express reference to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining its meaning and scope must normally be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the Community; that interpretation must take into account the context of the provision and the purpose of the legislation in question (Case 327/82 Ekro v Produktschap voor Vee en Vlees [1984] ECR 107, paragraph 11).
51 It follows from that provision that, where the objectives of the Directive, including that of supplying information, are achieved through a legislative process, the Directive does not apply to the project in question.
52 As is clear from Article 2(1), the Directive's fundamental objective is that, before consent is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location should be made subject to an assessment with regard to their effects.
53 According to the sixth recital in the preamble to the Directive, the assessment must be conducted on the basis of the appropriate information supplied by the developer, which may be supplemented by the authorities and by the people who may be concerned by the project in question.
55 It should be remembered that, under Article 5(2) of the Directive and Annex III thereto, the minimum information to be supplied by the developer is to consist of a description of the project comprising information on the site, design and size of the project, a description of the measures envisaged in order to avoid, reduce and, if possible, remedy significant adverse effects, and the data required to identify and assess the main effects which the project is likely to have on the environment.
56 As regards the degree of precision required of the legislative act, Article 1(5) of the Directive requires it to be a specific act adopting the details of the project. Its very wording must demonstrate that the objectives of the Directive have been achieved with regard to the project in question.
57 The Court has thus held that the details of a project cannot be considered to be adopted by a Law, for the purposes of Article 1(5) of the Directive, if the Law does not include the elements necessary to assess the environmental impact of the project but, on the contrary, requires a study to be carried out for that purpose, which must be drawn up subsequently, and if the adoption of other measures are needed in order for the developer to be entitled to proceed with the project (WWF and Others, cited above, paragraph 62).