Karoline Gruber v Unabhängiger Verwaltungssenat für Kärnten and Others.
Date: 2015-04-16
33. Article 11(1) of Directive 2011/92 provides for two possibilities in respect of the conditions for the admissibility of actions of members of the ‘public concerned’ within the meaning of Article 1(2) of that directive. Thus, the admissibility of an action may be conditional either on the existence of ‘a sufficient interest in bringing the action’, or on the applicant alleging ‘the impairment of a right’, depending on which of those conditions is adopted in the national legislation (see, to that effect, judgment in Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen , C‑115/09, EU:C:2011:289, paragraph 38).
34. In order to align Directive 85/337 ‘properly’ with the Aarhus Convention, in accordance with recital 5 in the preamble to Directive 2003/35, the first paragraph of Article 10a of Directive 85/337, which corresponds to Article 11(1) of Directive 2011/92, reproduces in almost identical terms the first paragraph of Article 9(2) of that convention and, therefore, must be interpreted in the light of the objectives of that convention (see, to that effect, judgment in Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen , C‑115/09, EU:C:2011:289, paragraph 41).
35. According to the guidance set out in the Aarhus Convention Implementation Guide, which the Court may take into account when interpreting Article 11(1) of Directive 2011/92 (see, to that effect, judgment in Solvay and Others , C‑182/10, EU:C:2012:82, paragraph 28), the two options concerning the admissibility of the actions referred to in the first paragraph of Article 9(2) of that convention constitute two equivalent mechanisms having regard to the differences between the legal systems of the parties to that convention aiming to achieve the same result.
37. It should also be recalled that where, in the absence of EU rules governing the matter, it is for the legal system of each Member State to designate the courts and tribunals having jurisdiction and to lay down the detailed procedural rules governing actions for safeguarding rights which individuals derive from EU law, those detailed rules must not be less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions (principle of equivalence) and must not make it in practice impossible or excessively difficult to exercise rights conferred by EU law (principle of effectiveness) (judgment in Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen , C‑115/09, EU:C:2011:289, paragraph 43).
38. Accordingly, Member States have a significant discretion to determine what constitutes ‘sufficient interest’ or ‘impairment of a right’ (see, to that effect, judgments in Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen , C‑115/09, EU:C:2011:289, paragraph 55, and Gemeinde Altrip and Others , C‑72/12, EU:C:2013:712, paragraph 50).
39. However, it is apparent from the wording of Article 11(3) of Directive 2011/92 and the second paragraph of Article 9(2) of the Aarhus Convention, that that discretion is limited by the need to respect the objective of ensuring wide access to justice for the public concerned.
40. Therefore, although the national legislature is entitled, inter alia, to confine the rights whose infringement may be relied on by an individual in legal proceedings contesting one of the decisions, acts or omissions referred to in Article 11 of Directive 2011/92 to individual public-law rights, that is to say, individual rights which, under national law, can be categorised as individual public-law rights (see, to that effect, judgment in Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen , C‑115/09, EU:C:2011:289, paragraphs 36 and 45), the provisions of that article relating to the rights to bring actions of members of the public concerned by the decisions, acts or omissions which fall within that directive’s scope cannot be interpreted restrictively.