Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 – Competent authorities obliged to carry out the assessment before granting authorisation – Projects relating to open-cast mining

(Council Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, Arts 2, 3 and 5(1) and (3))

2. Environment – Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora – Directive 92/43 – Special protection areas – Obligations of the Member States – Projects relating to open-cast mining in or in the immediate proximity of a site designated as a special protection area under Directive 79/409

(Council Directives 79/409, as amended by Directive 97/49 and Directive 92/43, Arts 6(2) to (4), and 7)

3. Environment – Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora – Directive 92/43 – Special protection areas – Obligations of the Member States – Projects relating to open-cast mining in or in the immediate proximity of a site designated as a special protection area under Directive 79/409

(Council Directives 79/409, as amended by Directive 97/49 and Directive 92/43, Art. 6(2) to (4), and 7)

4. Environment – Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora – Directive 92/43 – Special protection areas – Obligations of the Member States – Projects relating to open-cast mining in or in the immediate proximity of a site of Community interest

(Council Directive 92/43, Art. 6(2); Commission Decision 2004/813)

Summary

1. A Member State that authorises open-cast mines but fails to subject the grant of the authorisations relating thereto to an assessment making it possible to identify, describe and assess appropriately the direct, indirect and cumulative effects of the existing open-cast mining projects, save, in relation to one of those mines, as regards the brown bear ( Ursus arctos ), fails to fulfil its obligations under Articles 2, 3 and 5(1) and (3) of Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 97/11.

(see para. 197, operative part 1)

2. From the date on which a site is designated as a special protection area under Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds, as amended by Directive 97/49, a Member State that authorises open-cast mining operations in or in the immediate proximity of the site concerned, without making the grant of the authorisations relating thereto subject to the carrying out of an appropriate assessment of the possible effects of those projects, and, in any event, without satisfying the conditions in which a project may be realised despite the risk posed by that project for the capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus ), which constitutes one of the natural assets which motivated the classification of the site in question as a special protection area, namely the absence of alternative solutions, the existence of imperative reasons of major public interest and communication to the Commission of the necessary compensatory measures to ensure the overall coherence of the Natura 2000 network, fails to fulfil its obligations in relation to that site under Article 6(2) to (4) of Directive 92/43 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora in conjunction with Article 7 of that Directive.

(see para. 197, operative part 2)

3. From the date on which a site is designated as a special protection area under Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds, as amended by Directive 97/49, a Member State that fails to adopt the necessary measures to prevent the deterioration of habitats including the habitats of species, and to prevent significant disturbance of the capercaillie, the presence of which on the site concerned was the reason for the designation of that area as a special protection area, caused by open-cast mining operations in or in the immediate proximity of that site, fails to fulfil its obligations in relation to the said site under Article 6(2) to (4) of Directive 92/43 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora in conjunction with Article 7 of that directive.

(see para. 197, operative part 2)

4. From the date on which Decision 2004/813, adopting, pursuant to Directive 92/43 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, the list of sites of Community importance for the Atlantic biogeographical region was adopted, a Member State that fails to adopt the necessary measures to prevent the deterioration of habitats, including the habitats of species, and disturbance of species by certain mining operations in or in the immediate proximity of that site, fails to fulfil its obligations, in relation to a site designated as a site of Community importance, under Article 6(2) of that Directive.

(see para. 197, operative part 3)