Brussels, 14/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 13 November, the Advocate General, Juliane Kokott, addressed the European Court of Justice (C-570/13) and affirmed that people directly affected by a construction project can use Community law to oppose an administrative decision not to proceed to an environmental impact study.
In Austria, when construction projects are being carried out, there is a procedure that can be used to work out whether it is necessary to conduct a study into the environmental impact of a project. The decision cannot be opposed and therefore has a direct impact on those neighbouring the project. The latter can raise objections but this does not have any effect on the way the project is conducted.
Kokott considers that such a procedure does not comply with the directive on assessing the environmental impact of certain public and private projects (2011/92/EC). Third parties, namely those that could be directly affected by a construction project, must be able to submit the decision not to proceed to an environmental impact assessment, to legal controls. (JK)