Case

On 9 July 2021, the Secretariat sent an Opening Letter to Serbia to address the non-compliance with Directive 2011/92/EU (the EIA Directive).
 

Reasoning

In the Opening Letter, the Secretariat takes the view that Serbia failed to comply with the Directive’s provisions by not requesting an environmental impact assessment in the permitting procedure of the extension of the Drmno mine. The mine’s current permit was issued in 2009 and in 2013, the operator sent a request for another expansion, which was approved by the competent authority without requesting an EIA. In the Opening Letter, the Secretariat comes to the preliminary conclusion that the decision not to carry out an EIA was taken by the competent authority without regard to a significant expansion of the surface of the mine, that should have triggered the obligation to carry out an EIA.
 

Procedure

By sending the Opening Letter, the Secretariat initiated a preliminary procedure, the purpose of which is to give Serbia the opportunity to react to the allegation of non-compliance with Energy Community law within two months and to enable the Secretariat to establish the full background of the case.

According to Articles 7 and 17 of the Rules of Procedure for Dispute Settlement, interested parties may be granted access to the case file and may submit written observations on the present case to the Secretariat during the preliminary procedure. All requests for information on this case should be addressed to the Deputy Director and Legal Counsel at [email protected] or +43 1 535 2222 24 and should refer to the case number ECS-9/18.