Official Journal of the European Union

C 463/18

(Case C-596/22)

(2022/C 463/25)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Mr J. O.

Defendant: Kreis Gütersloh

Intervener: Mr W. D.

Questions referred

1.Must Article 2(1) of Directive 2011/92/EU, (1) read in conjunction with Article 4(1) and points 17(a) and 24 of Annex I to that directive, or Article 2(1) of Directive 2011/92, read in conjunction with Article 4(2) and (3) and point 1(e) of Annex II and points 1(b) and 3(g) of Annex III to that directive be interpreted as precluding a national provision under which, where an installation for the intensive rearing of broilers is added to an already authorised installation of that kind, those installations, as cumulative projects, must undergo an environmental impact assessment or a case-by-case examination within the meaning of Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2011/92 only if they are linked by joint operational or structural facilities?

2.Must Article 2(1) of Directive 2011/92, read in conjunction with Article 4(1) and points 17(a) and 24 of Annex I to that directive, be interpreted as precluding a national provision under which, where an installation for the intensive rearing of broilers is added to an already authorised installation of that kind, the new installation (29 990 places) and the already authorised installation (84 000 places) together exceed the threshold of 85 000 places for broilers referred to in point 17(a) of Annex I to Directive 2011/92, the new installation falls below both the national threshold for a site-specific preliminary assessment under national law (30 000 places) and the national threshold for a general preliminary assessment under national law (40 000 places), and although no environmental impact assessment was carried out for the already authorised installation, a case-by-case examination within the meaning of Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2011/92 (in the form of a general preliminary assessment under national law) concluded that no environmental impact assessment was required for the already authorised installation, an environmental impact assessment must be carried out for the new installation only if a case-by-case examination within the meaning of Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2011/92 (in the form of a general preliminary assessment under national law) reveals that the addition of the new installation is likely to have significant adverse or other significant adverse effects on the environment?

3.Must Article 2(1) of Directive 2011/92, read in conjunction with Article 4(2) and (3) and point 1(e) of Annex II to that directive, be interpreted as precluding a national provision which provides that the obligation to carry out a case-by-case examination within the meaning of Article 4(2)(a) of that directive (in the form of a site-specific preliminary assessment under national law) as to whether a project for the construction and operation of an installation for the intensive rearing of broilers must be made subject to an environmental impact assessment is conditional solely on that installation comprising 30 000 or more places?

Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (OJ 2012 L 26, p. 1), as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 (OJ 2014 L 124, p. 1).

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