Official Journal of the European Union

C 164/4

(Case C-463/11)(1)

(Directive 2001/42/EC - Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment - Article 3(4) and (5) - Determination of the type of plans likely to have significant environmental effects - Building plan ‘for development within an urban area’ exempted from an environmental assessment under national legislation - Incorrect assessment of the qualitative condition of ‘inner city development’ - No effect on the legal validity of the building plan - Effectiveness of the directive undermined)

2013/C 164/06

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: L

Defendant: M

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Verwaltungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg — Interpretation of Article 3(4) and (5), of Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (OJ 2001 L 197, p. 30) — Scope — National legislation providing for an accelerated procedure not including an environmental impact assessment for the adoption of development plans relating to small areas at local level which meet certain qualitative and quantitative — Incorrect assessment of the qualitative criteria

Operative part of the judgment

Article 3(5) of Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, read in conjunction with Article 3(4) thereof, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings, pursuant to which breach of a qualitative condition, imposed by the implementing provision of that directive to exempt the adoption of a particular type of building plan from an environmental assessment under that directive, is irrelevant to the legal validity of that plan.

* * *

(1) OJ C 355, 3.12.2011.

Language of the case: German