Member States may not take economic, social or cultural requirements or regional or local characteristics into account in order to delete sites of ecological interest at national level from the list of proposed sites which they transmit to the Commission, whose task it is to create a coherent European ecological network.
First Corporate Shipping (FCS) is the statutory port authority for the port of Bristol, on the Severn Estuary. FCS owns considerable land in the neighbourhood of the port. It has invested, in partnership with other undertakings, nearly £220 million in developing the port's facilities. Between 3 000 and 5 000 people work at the port, including 495 full-time employees of FCS.
Community law lays down rules which are intended to contribute towards ensuring biodiversity through the conservation of natural habitats in all the Member States. Each Member State is to propose to the European Commission a list of sites indicating which natural habitat types and which native species the sites host at national level.
The Commission then, in agreement with each Member State, produces a draft list of sites of Community importance, based on the Member States' lists. Once the list of sites selected has been drawn up by the Commission, the sites must be designated as special areas of conservation (SAC) by the Member State concerned.
As the British Secretary of State was minded to propose the Severn Estuary to the Commission for designation as an SAC, FCS applied to the High Court of Justice for judicial review of the procedure. FCS considered that under the Community rules the Secretary of State was obliged to take economic, social and cultural requirements into account when proposing sites to the Commission.
The High Court of Justice put a question to the Court of Justice of the European Communities on whether non-environmental criteria, in particular social and economic criteria, could be taken into account in Member States' proposals to the Commission.
The Court of Justice pointed out that the criteria for selecting sites eligible for identification as sites of Community importance and designation as SACs are criteria of assessment defined exclusively in relation to the objective of the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora.
Community law does not provide for other requirements to be taken into account at this stage of the procedure, which is concerned with producing a draft list of sites, so that the Commission may have available an exhaustive list of sites of ecological interest.
The Court considered that, if that were not the case, it would not be possible for the Commission to set up the coherent European ecological network which is the ultimate aim of the Community rules in question.
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