Ms Leth sought compensation for the decrease in the value of her house resulting from, in particular, aircraft noise. The house was located within the security zone of Vienna airport which has been developed and enlarged several times, without prior assessment of the environmental effects of those projects. She based her claim on, inter alia, a breach of Directive 85/337, which requires that an assessment will be carried out as to the environmental impact of such projects. In the preliminary ruling, the Court concluded that “the fact that an environmental impact assessment was not carried out, in breach of the requirements of Directive 85/337, does not, in principle, by itself confer on an individual a right to compensation for purely pecuniary damage caused by the decrease in the value of his property as a result of environmental effects.” It is ultimately for the national court to determine whether the requirements of EU law applicable to the right to compensation, in particular the existence of a direct causal link between the alleged breach and the damage sustained, have been satisfied.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 12:17:15 +0000
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