Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 24 March 2011.#European Commission v Kingdom of Belgium.#Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Directive 85/337/EEC - Assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment - Selection criteria - Determination of thresholds - Size of the project.#Case C-435/09.

Subject of the case

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Incorrect and incomplete transposition of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (OJ 1985 L 175, p. 40), as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (OJ 1997 L 73, p. 5) – Article 4(2) and (3), in conjunction with Annexes II and III (Flemish Community), Article 4(1), in conjunction with Annex I(8)(a) and (18)(a), and Article 7(1)(b) (Walloon Region) and Article 4(2) and (3) in conjunction with Annexes II and III (Brussels Capital Region) – Thresholds and criteria.

Operative part

Operative part

The Court:

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt the measures necessary for the correct and complete implementation:

– as regards the Flemish Region, of Article 4(2) and (3) of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 2003/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003, in conjunction with Annexes II and III thereof;

– as regards the Walloon Region, of Article 4(1), in conjunction with Annex I(8)(a) and (18)(a) of Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 2003/35, and Article 7(1)(b) thereof; and

– as regards the Brussels-Capital Region, of Article 4(2) and (3), in conjunction with Annexes II and III of Directive 85/337, as amended by Directive 2003/35, and of Annex III itself,

the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.