22.11.2008

Official Journal of the European Union

C 301/14

(Case C-379/08)

(2008/C 301/27)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: ERG Raffinerie Mediterranee SpA and Others

Defendant: Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico and Others

Questions referred

1.Does the Community directive on compensation for environmental damage (Directive 2004/35/EC (1) of 21 April 2004 and, in particular, Article 7 and Annex II thereto) preclude national legislation which allows the authorities to require, as ‘reasonable methods of remedying environmental damage’, works on the environmental matrices (here, consisting of the construction of a physical barrier for the groundwater along the entire seafront) different from and supplementary to those selected in advance following special preliminary discussions with the parties, already approved, implemented or in the course of being implemented?

2.Does the Community directive on compensation for environmental damage (Directive 2004/35/EC of 21 April 2004 and, in particular, Article 7 and Annex II thereto) preclude national legislation which allows the authorities to impose such requirements ex officio, that is, without having assessed the site-specific conditions and the implementation costs in respect of the reasonably foreseeable benefits, the possible or probable collateral damage and adverse effects on public health and safety, and the necessary time scales for implementation?

3.Does the Community directive on compensation for environmental damage (Directive 2004/35/EC of 21 April 2004 and, in particular, Article 7 and Annex II thereto) preclude national legislation which allows the authorities to impose such requirements ex officio as conditions for an authorisation for the lawful use of the areas not directly affected by the decontamination in so far as they have already been decontaminated or in any event were not polluted, included within the limits of the Priolo site of national interest?

(1) OJ 2004 L 143, p. 56.