Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment
Modified by
Council Directive 97/11/ECof 3 March 1997amending Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, 31997L0011, March 14, 1997
Directive 2003/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 26 May 2003providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending with regard to public participation and access to justice Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC, 32003L0035, June 25, 2003
Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 23 April 2009on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC, European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/60/EC, 2001/80/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2006/12/EC, 2008/1/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006(Text with EEA relevance), 32009L0031, June 5, 2009
Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 13 December 2011on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment(codification)(Text with EEA relevance), 32011L0092, January 28, 2012
Council Directiveof 27 June 1985on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment(85/337/EEC)THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 100 and 235 thereof,Having regard to the proposal from the CommissionOJ No C 169, 9.7.1980, p. 14.,Having regard to the opinion of the European ParliamentOJ No C 66, 15.3.1982, p. 89.,Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social CommitteeOJ No C 185, 27.7.1981, p. 8.,Whereas the 1973OJ No C 112, 20.12.1973, p. 1. and 1977OJ No C 139, 13.6.1977, p. 1. action programmes of the European Communities on the environment, as well as the 1983OJ No C 46, 17.2.1983, p. 1. action programme, the main outlines of which have been approved by the Council of the European Communities and the representatives of the Governments of the Member States, stress that the best environmental policy consists in preventing the creation of pollution or nuisances at source, rather than subsequently trying to counteract their effects; whereas they affirm the need to take effects on the environment into account at the earliest possible stage in all the technical planning and decision-making processes; whereas to that end, they provide for the implementation of procedures to evaluate such effects;Whereas the disparities between the laws in force in the various Member States with regard to the assessment of the environmental effects of public and private projects may create unfavourable competitive conditions and thereby directly affect the functioning of the common market; whereas, therefore, it is necessary to approximate national laws in this field pursuant to Article 100 of the Treaty;Whereas, in addition, it is necessary to achieve one of the Community's objectives in the sphere of the protection of the environment and the quality of life;Whereas, since the Treaty has not provided the powers required for this end, recourse should be had to Article 235 of the Treaty;Whereas general principles for the assessment of environmental effects should be introduced with a view to supplementing and coordinating development consent procedures governing public and private projects likely to have a major effect on the environment;Whereas development consent for public and private projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment should be granted only after prior assessment of the likely significant environmental effects of these projects has been carried out; whereas this assessment must be conducted on the basis of the appropriate information supplied by the developer, which may be supplemented by the authorities and by the people who may be concerned by the project in question;Whereas the principles of the assessment of environmental effects should be harmonized, in particular with reference to the projects which should be subject to assessment, the main obligations of the developers and the content of the assessment;Whereas projects belonging to certain types have significant effects on the environment and these projects must as a rule be subject to systematic assessment;Whereas projects of other types may not have significant effects on the environment in every case and whereas these projects should be assessed where the Member States consider that their characteristics so require;Whereas, for projects which are subject to assessment, a certain minimal amount of information must be supplied, concerning the project and its effects;Whereas the effects of a project on the environment must be assessed in order to take account of concerns to protect human health, to contribute by means of a better environment to the quality of life, to ensure maintenance of the diversity of species and to maintain the reproductive capacity of the ecosystem as a basic resource for life;Whereas, however, this Directive should not be applied to projects the details of which are adopted by a specific act of national legislation, since the objectives of this Directive, including that of supplying information, are achieved through the legislative process;Whereas, furthermore, it may be appropriate in exceptional cases to exempt a specific project from the assessment procedures laid down by this Directive, subject to appropriate information being supplied to the Commission,HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: