Wilhelm Mecklenburg v Kreis Pinneberg - Der Landrat.
Date: 1998-06-17
19 It must be noted in the first place that Article 2(a) of the directive includes under `information relating to the environment' any information on the state of the various aspects of the environment mentioned therein as well as on activities or measures which may adversely affect or protect those aspects, `including administrative measures and environmental management programmes'.  The wording of the provision makes it clear that the Community legislature intended to make that concept a broad one, embracing both information and activities relating to the state of those aspects.
20 Secondly, the use in Article 2(a) of the directive of the term `including' indicates that `administrative measures' is merely an example of the `activities' or `measures' covered by the directive.  As the Advocate General pointed out in paragraph 15 of his Opinion, the Community legislature purposely avoided giving any definition of `information relating to the environment' which could lead to the exclusion of any of the activities engaged in by the public authorities, the term `measures' serving merely to make it clear that the acts governed by the directive included all forms of administrative activity.
21 In order to constitute `information relating to the environment for the purposes of the directive', it is sufficient for the statement of views put forward by an authority, such as the statement concerned in the main proceedings, to be an act capable of adversely affecting or protecting the state of one of the sectors of the environment covered by the directive.  That is the case, as the referring court mentioned, where the statement of views is capable of influencing the outcome of the development consent proceedings as regards interests pertaining to the protection of the environment.
22 Accordingly, the reply to the first question is that Article 2(a) of the directive is to be interpreted as covering a statement of views given by a countryside protection authority in development consent proceedings if that statement is capable of influencing the outcome of those proceedings as regards interests pertaining to the protection of the environment.
Second question
25 Since that is a derogation from the general rules laid down by the directive, Article 3(2), third indent, may not be interpreted in such a way as to extend its effects beyond what is necessary to safeguard the interests which it seeks to secure.  Furthermore, the scope of the derogations which it lays down must be determined in the light of the aims pursued by the directive (Case C-335/94 Mrozek and Jäger [1996] ECR I-1573, paragraph 9).
27 As regards the interests the protection of which the third indent of Article 3(2) of the directive serves to secure, the exceptions provided for therein relate to information held by a public authority relating, first, to matters which are the subject of legal proceedings, next, to matters which are the subject of enquiries (including disciplinary enquiries) and, lastly, to matters which are the subject of `preliminary investigation proceedings'.  It is thus clear, as the Advocate General pointed out in paragraph 23 of his Opinion, that that exception covers exclusively proceedings of a judicial or quasi-judicial nature, or at least proceedings which will inevitably lead to the imposition of a penalty if the offence (administrative or criminal) is established.  Viewed in that context, therefore, `preliminary investigation proceedings' must refer to the stage immediately prior to the judicial proceedings or the enquiry.
29 Lastly, it is settled case-law that the need for a uniform interpretation of Community directives makes it impossible for the text of a provision to be considered, in case of doubt, in isolation; on the contrary, it requires that it be interpreted and applied in the light of the versions existing in the other official languages (see to that effect Case C-296/95 EMU Tabac [1998] ECR I-0000, paragraph 36).  The German word at issue, Vorverfahren, should therefore be compared, not only with the terms instruction préliminaire, azione investigativa preliminare, investigación preliminar and investigaçao preliminar in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, but also with `preliminary investigation proceedings' in the English version, opsporingsonderzoeken in Dutch and indledende undersogelser in Danish.  As the Advocate General pointed out in paragraph 25 of his Opinion, comparison of the various language versions shows that the `preliminary investigation proceedings' referred to by the directive must be linked to the activities which precede contentious or quasi-contentious proceedings and which arise from the need to obtain proof or to investigate a matter before the procedural phase properly so-called has even begun. However, `preliminary investigation proceedings' does not cover all acts of the administration which are open to challenge in the courts.
30 In the light of those considerations the reply to the second question is that the term `preliminary investigation proceedings' in the third indent of Article 3(2) of the directive must be interpreted as including an administrative procedure such as that referred to in Paragraph 7(1)(2) of the UIG, which merely prepares the way for an administrative measure, only if it immediately precedes a contentious or quasi-contentious procedure and arises from the need to obtain proof or to investigate a matter prior to the opening of the actual procedure.