The SEA directive
| Author | Directorate-General for Environment (European Commission) |
| Pages | 145-200 |
145
Part III - The SEA Directive
Objectives
The objective of this Directive is to provide for a high level of protection of the environment and to contribute
to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans and
programmes with a view to promoting sustainable development, by ensuring that, in accordance with this
Directive, an environmental assessment is carried out of certain plans a nd programmes which are likely to
have significant effects on the environment.
According to the case-law of the Court:
The objective of the SEA Directive
First of all, as is apparent from Article 1 of Directive 2001/42, the fundamental objective of
that directive is, where plans and programmes are likely to have significant effects on the
environment, to require an environmental assessment to be carried out at the time they
are prepared and before they are adopted.
(Terre wallonne and Inter-Environnement Wallonie, C-105/09 & C-110/09, EU:C:2010:355,
Environnement Wallonie and Terre wallonne, C-41/11, EU:C:2012:103, paragraph 40, L v M, C-
The fundamental objective of Directive 2001/42 would be disregarded if national courts did
not adopt in such actions brought before them, and subject to the limits of procedural
autonomy, the measures, provided for by their national law, that are appropriate for
preventing such a plan or programme, including projects to be realised under that programme,
from being implemented in the absence of an environmental assessment.
(Inter-Environnement Wallonie and Terre wallonne, C-41/11, EU:C:2012:103, paragraph 47)
Where such an environmental assessment is required by Directive 2001/42, the directive lays
down minimum rules concerning the preparation of the environmental report, the carrying
out of consultations, the taking into account of the results of the environmental assessment
and the communication of information on the decision adopted at the end of the assessment.
paragraph 33 ; Inter-Environnement Bruxelles and Others, C-567/10, EU:C:2012:159, paragraph
21 ; Inter-Environnement Wallonie and Terre wallonne, C-41/11, EU:C:2012:103, paragraph 41)
146
The purpose of that directive is, as set out in Article 1, to provide for a high level of
protection for the environment and to contribute to the integration of environmental
considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans and programmes with a view to
promoting sustainable development.
(A and Others, C-24/19, ECLI:EU:C:2020:503, paragraph 45)
147
Article 2
Definition
For the purposes of this Directive:
(a) ‘plans and programmes’ shall mean plans and programmes, including those co-financed by the European
Community, as well as any modifications to them:
which are subject to preparation and/or adoption by an authority at national, regional or local level
or which are prepared by an authority for adoption, through a legislative procedure by Parliament
or Government, and
which are required by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions;
(b) ‘enviro nmental assessment’ shall mean the preparation of an environmental report, the carrying out of
consultations, the taking into account of the environmental report and the results of the consultations in
decision-making and the provision of information on the decision in accordance with Articles 4 to 9;
(c) ‘Environmental report’ shall mean the part of the plan or programme documen tation containing the
information required in Article 5 and Annex I;
(d) ‘The public’ shall mean one or more natural or legal persons and, in accordance with national legislation
or practice, their associations, organisations or groups.
According to the case-law of the Court:
Broad interpretation of definitions
Consequently, given the objective of Directive 2001/42, which is to provide for a high level
of protection of the environment, the provisions which delimit the directive’s scope, in
particular those setting out the definitions of the measures envisaged by the directive, must
be interpreted broadly
(Inter-Environnement Bruxelles and Others, C-567/10, EU:C:2012:159, paragraph 37, and of 10
and Others, C-290/15, EU:C:2016:816, paragraph 40).
Article 2(a)
It follows that an examination of the wording of Article 2(a), second indent, of Directive
2001/42 is inconclusive, since it does not make it possible to determine whether ‘plans and
programmes’ referred to in that provision are exclusively those that national authorities are
obliged to adopt under legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions.
Next, as regards the legislative history of the second indent of Article 2(a) of Directive
2001/42, that provision, which was not included in the original European Commission
proposal for a directive, nor in the amended version of that proposal, was added by Common
Position (EC) No 25/2000 of 30 March 2000 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance
To continue reading
Request your trial