ECJ Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 – Project for which consent was obtained prior to the deadline for transposing the directive into national law – New consent procedure initiated after that deadline – Project subject to obligations relating to environmental impact assessment (Council Directive 85/337) Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment is to be interpreted as not permitting Member States to waive the obligations regarding environmental assessments in the case of projects listed in Annex I of the directive where – the projects have already been the subject of a consent granted prior to 3 July 1988, the date by which the directive was to have been transposed into national law, – the consent was not preceded by an environmental assessment in accordance with the requirements of the directive and no use was made of it, and a fresh consent procedure was formally initiated after 3 July 1988. It is true that the principle of compulsory environmental assessment in accordance with the directive does not apply where the consent procedure was initiated before 3 July 1988 and was still in progress on that date. The reason for that is to avoid making more cumbersome and time-consuming, as a result of the specific requirements imposed by the directive, procedures which are already complex at national level and which were formally initiated before that date. Those considerations do not apply, however, in the circumstances mentioned above, particularly as national legal remedies are available in respect of the new consent procedure.
Citations:
C-81/96, [1998] EUECJ C-81/96
Links:
European, Environment
Updated: 03 June 2022; Ref: scu.161804