Case C-463/11

L

v

M

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg)

‛Directive 2001/42/EC — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Article 3(4) and (5) — Determination of the type of plans likely to have significant environmental effects — Building plan ‘for development within an urban area’ exempted from an environmental assessment under national legislation — Incorrect assessment of the qualitative condition of ‘inner city development’ — No effect on the legal validity of the building plan — Effectiveness of the directive undermined’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 18 April 2013

1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Jurisdiction of the national court — Establishing and assessing the facts of the dispute — Necessity of a question referred and relevance of the questions raised — Assessment by the national court — Clearly irrelevant questions and hypothetical questions put in a context not permitting a useful answer — Questions bearing no relation to the subject-matter of the dispute in the main proceedings

   (Art. 267 TFEU)

2. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the national court — Interpretation of national law

   (Art. 267 TFEU)

3. Environment — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Directive 2001/42 — Obligation on the competent authorities to carry out an environmental assessment before adoption — Failure to carry out that assessment — Obligation to ensure the effectiveness of the directive — Scope

   (European Parliament and Council 2001/42, Arts 3(1), 4 and 5)

4. Environment — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Directive 2001/42 — Obligation on the competent authorities to carry out an environmental assessment before adoption — Failure to carry out that assessment — Obligation on the national courts to remedy that failure — Scope

   (European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42, Art. 3(1))

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see para. 28)

2.  See the text of the decision

   (see para. 29)

3.  Article 3(5) of Directive 2001/42 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, read in conjunction with Article 3(4) thereof, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation pursuant to which breach of a qualitative condition, imposed by the implementing provision of that directive to exempt the adoption of a particular type of building plan from an environmental assessment under that directive, is irrelevant to the legal validity of that plan.

   Such a system effectively deprives of its effectiveness Article 3(1) of the directive, which requires an environmental assessment to be carried out in respect of the plans referred to in Article 3(3) and (4) thereof which are likely to have significant effects on the environment.

   (see paras 38, 45, operative part)

4.  Where a plan, within the meaning of Directive 2001/42 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, should, prior to its adoption, have been subject to an assessment of its environmental effects in accordance with the requirements of the directive, the national courts hearing an action for annulment of such a plan are obliged to take all general or particular measures for remedying the failure to carry out such an assessment.

   (see para. 43)

Case C-463/11

L

v

M

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg)

‛Directive 2001/42/EC — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Article 3(4) and (5) — Determination of the type of plans likely to have significant environmental effects — Building plan ‘for development within an urban area’ exempted from an environmental assessment under national legislation — Incorrect assessment of the qualitative condition of ‘inner city development’ — No effect on the legal validity of the building plan — Effectiveness of the directive undermined’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 18 April 2013

1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Jurisdiction of the national court — Establishing and assessing the facts of the dispute — Necessity of a question referred and relevance of the questions raised — Assessment by the national court — Clearly irrelevant questions and hypothetical questions put in a context not permitting a useful answer — Questions bearing no relation to the subject-matter of the dispute in the main proceedings

   (Art. 267 TFEU)

2. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the national court — Interpretation of national law

   (Art. 267 TFEU)

3. Environment — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Directive 2001/42 — Obligation on the competent authorities to carry out an environmental assessment before adoption — Failure to carry out that assessment — Obligation to ensure the effectiveness of the directive — Scope

   (European Parliament and Council 2001/42, Arts 3(1), 4 and 5)

4. Environment — Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — Directive 2001/42 — Obligation on the competent authorities to carry out an environmental assessment before adoption — Failure to carry out that assessment — Obligation on the national courts to remedy that failure — Scope

   (European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42, Art. 3(1))

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see para. 28)

2.  See the text of the decision

   (see para. 29)

3.  Article 3(5) of Directive 2001/42 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, read in conjunction with Article 3(4) thereof, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation pursuant to which breach of a qualitative condition, imposed by the implementing provision of that directive to exempt the adoption of a particular type of building plan from an environmental assessment under that directive, is irrelevant to the legal validity of that plan.

   Such a system effectively deprives of its effectiveness Article 3(1) of the directive, which requires an environmental assessment to be carried out in respect of the plans referred to in Article 3(3) and (4) thereof which are likely to have significant effects on the environment.

   (see paras 38, 45, operative part)

4.  Where a plan, within the meaning of Directive 2001/42 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, should, prior to its adoption, have been subject to an assessment of its environmental effects in accordance with the requirements of the directive, the national courts hearing an action for annulment of such a plan are obliged to take all general or particular measures for remedying the failure to carry out such an assessment.

   (see para. 43)