Brussels, 16/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The member states cannot prevent their citizens living in the vicinity of a construction project from challenging an administrative decision not to carry out an environmental impact assessment, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled in a judgment returned on Thursday 16 April.
In this case (C-570/13) regarding the Austrian legislation, the Court reached the same conclusion as Advocate General Juliane Kokott in November 2014 (see EUROPE 11197). Individuals who are directly affected by a construction project may therefore use the directive on assessing the impact on the environment of certain public and private projects (2011/92/EC) as a basis to challenge an administrative decision not to carry out an environmental impact assessment. It is up to the national jurisdictions to determine who comes under the category of “neighbour”, on the basis of the criteria laid down by the national law as regards “sufficient interest to take action” or the “infringement of a right”. (Jan Kordys)