Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Möckel, Stefan

Titel

The European ecological network “Natura 2000” and its derogation procedure to ensure compatibility with competing public interests

Ist Teil von

• Nature Conservation, 2017-12, Vol.23 (722), p.87-116

Ort / Verlag

Sofia: Pensoft Publishers

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Natura 2000 network covers over 18 percent of the land area in the European Union. All proposals for development affecting these sites must be previously assessed for their implications for the site's conservation objectives. In cases where it cannot be ascertained that there is no adverse effect on the integrity of a Natura 2000 site, the proposal for development can now only be approved within the scope of a derogation assessment pursuant to Article 6(4) of the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC[sup.1] (HD). This article explores the requirements for an approval for derogation. In addition to the decisions of the European Court of Justice (ECJ)[sup.2] and the European Commission guidelines on this issue, this article focuses, in particular, on the comprehensive German Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG)[sup.3] decisions on this matter, which has had to assess a substantially greater number of cases to date, and provides a critical discussion on this in relation to the conservation aims of the Habitats Directive. Keywords: European Union (EU), Natura 2000, appropriate assessment, impact assessment, derogation procedure, Article 6(4) Habitats Directive, Birds Directive, imperative reasons of overriding public interest (IROPI), assessment of alternatives, compensatory measures, coherence, case law, ECJ, Germany, BVerwG