Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Environment - Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment - Directive 85/337 - Assessment procedure - Discretion of the Member States - Power of national courts to review whether the limits of the discretion are observed

(Council Directive 85/337, Arts 5 and 6(2))

2. Community law - Interpretation - Principle of uniform interpretation

3. Environment - Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment - Directive 85/337 - Scope - Projects the details of which are adopted by a specific act of national legislation - Not covered

(Council Directive 85/337, Art. 1(5))

Summary

1. A national court, called on to examine the legality of a procedure for the expropriation in the public interest, in connection with the construction of a motorway, of immovable property belonging to a private individual, may review whether the national legislature kept within the limits of the discretion set by Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, in particular where prior assessment of the environmental impact of the project has not been carried out, the information gathered in accordance with Article 5 has not been made available to the public and the members of the public concerned have not had an opportunity to express an opinion before the project is initiated, contrary to the requirements of Article 6(2) of Directive 85/337.

( see para. 39 and operative part 1 )

2. The need for uniform application of Community law and the principle of equality require that the terms of a provision of Community law which makes no express reference to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining its meaning and scope must normally be given a uniform and autonomous interpretation throughout the Community; that interpretation must take into account the context of the provision and the purpose of the legislation in question.

( see para. 43 )

3. On a proper construction of Article 1(5) of Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment - which excludes from the directive's scope projects whose details are adopted by a specific act of national legislation - a measure adopted by a parliament after public parliamentary debate constitutes a specific act of national legislation within the meaning of that provision where the legislative process has enabled the objectives pursued by Directive 85/337, including that of supplying information, to be achieved, and the information available to the parliament at the time when the details of the project were adopted was equivalent to that which would have been submitted to the competent authority in an ordinary procedure for granting consent for a project.

( see para. 59 and operative part 3 )