Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 21 March 2013 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof - Austria) - Salzburger Flughafen GmbH v Umweltsenat

(Case C-244/12) 

(Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment - Directive 85/337/EEC - Articles 2(1) and 4(2) - Projects listed in Annex II - Extension works to the infrastructure of an airport - Examination on the basis of thresholds or criteria - Article 4(3) - Selection criteria - Annex III, point 2(g) - Densely populated areas)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Salzburger Flughafen GmbH

Defendant: Umweltsenat

Intervener: Landesumweltanwaltschaft Salzburg, Bundesministerin für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling - Verwaltungsgerichtshof - Interpretation of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (OJ 1985 L 175, p. 40) - Projects liable to an assessment - Extension of an airport - Member State's legislation providing for an environmental impact assessment of a project only if the annual number of flights increases by no less than 20 000.

Operative part of the judgment

1.    Articles 2(1) and 4(2)(b) and (3) of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997, preclude national legislation which makes projects which change the infrastructure of an airport and fall within the scope of Annex II to that directive subject to an environmental impact assessment only if those projects are likely to increase the number of aircraft movements by at least 20 000 per year;;

2.    When a Member State, pursuant to Article 4(2)(b) of Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 97/11, with regard to projects falling within the scope of Annex II thereto, establishes a threshold which is incompatible with the obligations laid down in Articles 2(1) and 4(3) of that directive, the provisions of Articles 2(1) and 4(2)(a) and (3) of the directive have direct effect, which means that the competent national authorities must ensure that it is first examined whether the projects concerned are likely to have significant effects on the environment and, if so, that an assessment of those effects is then undertaken.

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¹ - OJ C 235, 4.8.2012.