Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 16 March 2006 – Commission v Spain

(Case C-332/04)

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended by Directive 97/11/EC – Assessment of the effects of projects on the environment – Interaction between factors likely to be directly and indirectly affected – Obligation to publish the impact statement – Assessment limited to urban development projects outside urban areas – Construction project for a leisure complex at Paterna

1.                     Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 (Council Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, Art. 3) (see paras 33-37)

2.                     Acts of the institutions – Directives – Implementation by Member States – Administrative practice insufficient (Art. 249, third para., EC) (see para. 38)

3.                     Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Examination of merits by the Court – Situation to be taken into consideration – Situation on expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (Art. 226 EC) (see para. 40)

4.                     Community law – Interpretation – Multilingual texts (see para. 52)

5.                     Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 (Council Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, Art. 9(1)) (see paras 45-46, 48-59)

6.                     Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 97/11 (Council Directive 97/11, Art. 3(1)) (see paras 65-66)

7.                     Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment – Directive 85/337 (Council Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, Arts 2(1) and 4(2)) (see para. 77)

Re:

Operative part:

The Court: