Milieu-effectrapportages: Commissie start procedures tegen België, Italië, Spanje en het Verenigd Koninkrijk (en)
The European Commission is taking legal action against Belgium, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom to ensure that they comply with EU legislation which requires that prior environmental impact assessments (EIAs) be carried out for certain projects. It has sent Belgium an official request to comply with a 2002 ruling of the European Court of Justice that related to its failure to adopt the national legislation needed to implement EIA legislation. Continued failure to do so could result in substantial fines on Belgium. Spain is to be referred to the Court because its EIA legislation is inadequate. Final written warnings have been sent to Belgium and the UK urging them to improve their implementation of EIA legislation. The EIA Directive aims to safeguard the environment by requiring that the environmental effects of projects be studied before they are approved, and by ensuring that prior public consultation takes place. By its action, the Commission is demonstrating its determination to ensure that the environmental safeguards that the Directive provides are all put in place.
Commenting on the decisions, Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said: "EIA is an important means of alerting authorities to the potential effects of projects on the environment and the public. I urge Belgium, Italy, Spain and the UK to ensure that EIA is properly supported by legislation and carried out correctly. "
United Kingdom
The Commission has sent the UK a final written warning because it is not satisfied that UK legislation on EIA adequately covers development on land owned by the state (known as "Crown" development). The UK authorities have indicated that Crown development was excluded from planning legislation and is, therefore, not subject to UK regulations that transposed the EIA Directive into national law. The UK explained that there were administrative procedures in place to ensure public consultation on such projects. However, the Commission considers that legislative measures are needed. The UK now accepts this and is preparing the necessary legislation, but this has not yet been adopted or notified.
Italy
The Commission has also sent Italy a final written warning because its current EIA legislation excludes waste recovery installations. Such installations are allowed to operate under a simplified permitting regime.
The exclusion, which entered into force in 1999, is contrary to the EIA Directive for two reasons: firstly, it exempts projects which should normally always be subject to an EIA (Annex I projects) from having to carry out an EIA.
Secondly, it makes projects which are likely to have a significant environmental impact exempt from having to be screened (Annex II projects). As a result of Italian legislation, several waste recovery installations are given development consent without complying with the requirements of the EIA Directive. In its letter, the Commission questions both Italian EIA legislation in general and, more specifically, the failure to carry out an EIA in relation to a specific incinerator for refuse-derived fuel and biomass that is located in the town of Massafra (Taranto).
Spain
The Commission has decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice because of flaws in the Spanish legislation that was brought in to give effect to Directive 97/11/EC, which amended the EIA Directive. The Commission considers that Spanish legislation does not ensure that the public is adequately informed about decisions on projects for which an EIA has been carried out. It is also concerned that Spanish legislation only applies the requirements of Directive 97/11/EC to projects that are submitted for approval after 8 October 2000, whereas the date set by the Directive, 14 March 1999, is more than a year earlier.
Belgium
On 19 November 2002, Belgium was condemned by the Court of Justice for failing to adopt and notify legislation to give effect to Directive 97/11/EC (Case C-2001/319), which amends the original EIA Directive. The legislation should have been in place by March 1999. Belgium has still not communicated all the necessary legislation covering Flanders, and the Commission has, therefore, sent Belgium a final written warning. Failure to comply with the Court ruling could result in substantial fines being imposed.
The Commission has also sent Belgium a final written warning because it failed to carry out a prior EIA on a reservoir "l'étang de Saintefontaine", located at Clavier, Wallonia. Belgian law stipulates that a reservoir covering more than a hectare requires an EIA. The project in question, which was approved in 2000, covers a hectare and a half.
Background
The EIA Directive(1) is an important part of EU environmental legislation. It requires Member States to carry out environmental impact assessments (EIA) on certain public and private projects, before they are authorised, where it is believed that the projects are likely to have a significant impact on the environment. For some projects (such as motorways, airfields and nuclear power stations) listed in an Annex I to the Directive, such assessments are obligatory. For others (such as urban development projects, tourism and leisure activities) listed in Annex II, Member States must operate a screening system to determine which projects require assessment. They can apply thresholds or criteria, carry out case-by-case examination or use a combination of these screening instruments, the aim being to ensure that all projects having significant environmental effects are assessed.
The objective of an EIA is to identify and describe the environmental impacts of projects and to assess whether prevention or mitigation is appropriate. During the EIA procedure, the public can provide input and express environmental concerns with regard to the project. The results of this consultation must be taken into account during the authorisation process.
The necessary national legislation should have been implemented by July 1988. An amendment to the Directive was adopted in 1997. While retaining the basic framework of the original Directive, the amendment reinforced many of the Directive's details. Member States were required to adopt the necessary national legislation to take account of this amendment by March 1999.
Legal process
Article 226 of the Treaty gives the Commission powers to take legal action against a Member State that is not respecting its obligations.
If the Commission considers that there may be an infringement of EU law that warrants the opening of an infringement procedure, it addresses a "Letter of Formal Notice" (or first written warning) to the Member State concerned, requesting it to submit its observations by a specified date, usually two months.
In the light of the reply or absence of a reply from the Member State concerned, the Commission may decide to address a "Reasoned Opinion" (or final written warning) to the Member State. This clearly and definitively sets out the reasons why it considers there to have been an infringement of EU law and calls upon the Member State to comply within a specified period, usually two months.
If the Member State fails to comply with the Reasoned Opinion, the Commission may decide to bring the case before the Court of Justice.
Article 228 of the Treaty gives the Commission power to act against a Member State that does not comply with a previous judgement of the European Court of Justice. The article also allows the Commission to ask the Court to impose a financial penalty on the Member State concerned.
For current statistics on infringements in general see:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/droit_com/index_en.htm#infractions ;
(1) ;Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, amended by Directive 97/11/EC ;