out
shall send to the affected Member State as soon as

   possible and no
later than when informing its own public, inter alia:

 

(a) a description of the project, together with any
available

    information on
its possible transboundary impact;

 

(b) information on the nature of the decision which may
be taken,

 

and shall give the other Member State a reasonable time
in which to

indicate whether it wishes to participate in the Environmental
Impact

Assessment procedure, and may include the information
referred to in

paragraph 2.

 

2. If a Member State which receives information pursuant
to

   paragraph 1
indicates that it intends to participate in the

   Environmental
Impact Assessment procedure, the Member State in whose

   territory the
project is intended to be carried out shall, if it has

   not already
done so, send to the affected Member State the information

   gathered
pursuant to Article 5 and relevant information regarding the

   said procedure,
including the request for development consent.

 

3. The Member States concerned, each insofar as it is
concerned,

   shall also:

 

(a) arrange for the information referred to in paragraphs
1 and 2 to

    be made
available, within a reasonable time, to the authorities

    referred to in
Article 6 (1) and the public concerned in the territory

    of the Member
State likely to be significantly affected; and(b) ensure

    that those
authorities and the public concerned are given an

    opportunity,
before development consent for the project is granted, to

    forward their
opinion within a reasonable time on the information

    supplied to
the competent authority in the Member State in whose

    territory the
project is intended to be carried out.

 

4. The Member States concerned shall enter into
consultations

   regarding,
inter alia, the potential transboundary effects of the

   project and the
measures envisaged to reduce or eliminate such effects

   and shall agree
on a reasonable time frame for the duration of the

   consultation
period.

 

5. The detailed arrangements for implementing the
provisions of this

   Article may be
determined by the Member States concerned.`;

 

10. Article 8 shall be replaced by the following:

 

                              'Article 8

 

The results of consultations and the information gathered
pursuant

to Articles 5, 6 and 7 must be taken into consideration
in the

development consent procedure.`;

 

11. Article 9 shall be replaced by the following:

 

                              'Article 9

 

1. When a decision to grant or refuse development consent
has been

   taken, the
competent authority or authorities shall inform the public

   thereof in
accordance with the appropriate procedures and shall make

   available to
the public the following information:

 

- the content of the decision and any conditions attached
thereto,

 

- the main reasons and considerations on which the
decision is

  based,

 

- a description, where necessary, of the main measures to
avoid,

  reduce and, if
possible, offset the major adverse effects.

 

2. The competent authority or authorities shall inform
any Member

   State which has
been consulted pursuant to Article 7, forwarding to it

   the information
referred to in paragraph 1.`;

 

12. Article 10 shall be replaced by the following:

 

                             'Article 10

 

The provisions of this Directive shall not affect the
obligation on

the competent authorities to respect the limitations
imposed by

national regulations and administrative provisions and
accepted legal

practices with regard to commercial and industrial
confidentiality,

including intellectual property, and the safeguarding of
the public

interest.

 

Where Article 7 applies, the transmission of information
to another

Member State and the receipt of information by another
Member State

shall be subject to the limitations in force in the
Member State in

which the project is proposed.`;

 

13. Article 11 (2) shall be replaced by the following:

 

'2. In particular, Member States shall inform the
Commission of any

    criteria
and/or thresholds adopted for the selection of the projects

    in question,
in accordance with Article 4 (2).`;

 

14. Article 13 shall be deleted;

 

15. Annexes I, II and III shall be replaced by Annexes I,
II, III

    and IV as they
appear in the Annex.

    

                              Article 2

 

Five years after the entry into force of this Directive,
the

Commission shall send the European Parliament and the
Council a report

on the application and effectiveness of Directive
85/337/EEC as

amended by this Directive. The report shall be based on
the exchange

of information provided for by Article 11 (1) and (2).

 

On the basis of this report, the Commission shall, where

appropriate, submit to the Council additional proposals
with a view to

ensuring further coordination in the application of this
Directive.

 

                              Article 3

 

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws,
regulations and

   administrative
provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by

   14 March 1999
at the latest. They shall forthwith inform the

   Commission
thereof.

 

When Member States adopt these provisions, they shall
contain a

reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by
such reference

at the time of their official publication. The procedure
for such

reference shall be adopted by Member States.

 

2. If a request for development consent is submitted to a
competent

   authority
before the end of the time limit laid down in paragraph 1,

   the provisions
of Directive 85/337/EEC prior to these amendments shall

   continue to
apply.

   

                              Article 4

 

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth
day following

that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European

Communities.

 

                              Article 5

 

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

 

Done at Brussels, 3 March 1997.

 

For the Council

 

The President

 

M. DE BOER

   

(1) OJ No C 130, 12. 5. 1994, p. 8 andOJ No C 81, 19. 3.
1996, p.

    14.

 

(2) OJ No C 393, 31. 12. 1994, p. 1.

 

(3) OJ No C 210, 14. 8. 1995, p. 78.

 

(4) European Parliament Opinion of 11 October 1995 (OJ No
C 287, 30.

    10. 1995, p.
101), Council common position of 25 June 1996 (OJ No C

    248, 26. 8.
1996, p. 75) and European Parliament Decision of 13

    November 1996
(OJ No C 362, 2. 12. 1996, p. 103).

 

(5) OJ No L 175, 5. 7. 1985, p. 40. Directive as last
amended by the

    1994 Act of
Accession.

 

(6) OJ No L 103, 25. 4. 1979, p. 1. Directive as last
amended by the

    1994 Act of
Accession.

 

(7) OJ No L 206, 22. 7. 1992, p. 7.

    

                                ANNEX

 

                               'ANNEX I

 

PROJECTS SUBJECT TO ARTICLE 4 (1)

 

1. Crude-oil refineries (excluding undertakings
manufacturing only

   lubricants from
crude oil) and installations for the gasification and

   liquefaction of
500 tonnes or more of coal or bituminous shale per

   day.

 

2. - Thermal power stations and other combustion
installations with

   a heat output
of 300 megawatts or more, and

 

- nuclear power stations and other nuclear reactors
including the

  dismantling or
decommissioning of such power stations or reactors (*)

  (except research
installations for the production and conversion of

  fissionable and
fertile materials, whose maximum power does not exceed

  1 kilowatt
continuous thermal load).

 

3. (a) Installations for the reprocessing of irradiated
nuclear

   fuel.

 

(b) Installations designed:

 

- for the production or enrichment of nuclear fuel,

 

- for the processing of irradiated nuclear fuel or
high-level

  radioactive
waste,

 

- for the final disposal of irradiated nuclear fuel,

 

- solely for the final disposal of radioactive waste,

 

- solely for the storage (planned for more than 10 years)
of

  irradiated
nuclear fuels or radioactive waste in a different site than

  the production
site.

 

4. - Integrated works for the initial smelting of
cast-iron and

   steel;

 

- Installations for the production of non-ferrous crude
metals from

  ore,
concentrates or secondary raw materials by metallurgical,

  chemical or
electrolytic processes.

 

5. Installations for the extraction of asbestos and for
the

   processing and
transformation of asbestos and products containing

   asbestos: for
asbestos-cement products, with an annual production of

   more than 20
000 tonnes of finished products, for friction material,

   with an annual
production of more than 50 tonnes of finished products,

   and for other
uses of asbestos, utilization of more than 200 tonnes

   per year.

 

6. Integrated chemical installations, i.e. those
installations for

   the manufacture
on an industrial scale of substances using chemical

   conversion
processes, in which several units are juxtaposed and are

   functionally
linked to one another and which are:

 

(i) for the production of basic organic chemicals;

 

(ii) for the production of basic inorganic chemicals;

 

(iii) for the production of phosphorous-, nitrogen- or

     
potassium-based fertilizers (simple or compound fertilizers);

 

(iv) for the production of basic plant health products
and of

     biocides;

 

(v) for the production of basic pharmaceutical products
using a

    chemical or
biological process;

 

(vi) for the production of explosives.

 

7. (a) Construction of lines for long-distance railway
traffic and

   of airports (1)
with a basic runway length of 2 100 m or more;

 

(b) Construction of motorways and express roads (2);

 

(c) Construction of a new road of four or more lanes, or
realignment

    and/or
widening of an existing road of two lanes or less so as to

    provide four
or more lanes, where such new road, or realigned and/or

    widened
section of road would be 10 km or more in a continuous length.

 

8. (a) Inland waterways and ports for inland-waterway
traffic which

   permit the
passage of vessels of over 1 350 tonnes;

 

(b) Trading ports, piers for loading and unloading
connected to land

    and outside
ports (excluding ferry piers) which can take vessels of

    over 1 350
tonnes.

 

9. Waste disposal installations for the incineration,
chemical

   treatment as
defined in Annex IIA to Directive 75/442/EEC (3) under

   heading D9, or
landfill of hazardous waste (i.e. waste to which

   Directive
91/689/EEC (4) applies).

 

10. Waste disposal installations for the incineration or
chemical

    treatment as
defined in Annex IIA to Directive 75/442/EEC under

    heading D9 of
non-hazardous waste with a capacity exceeding 100 tonnes

    per day.

 

11. Groundwater abstraction or artificial groundwater
recharge

    schemes where
the annual volume of water abstracted or recharged is

    equivalent to
or exceeds 10 million cubic metres.

 

12. (a) Works for the transfer of water resources between
river

    basins where
this transfer aims at preventing possible shortages of

    water and
where the amount of water transferred exceeds 100 million

    cubic
metres/year;

 

(b) In all other cases, works for the transfer of water
resources

    between river
basins where the multi-annual average flow of the basin

    of abstraction
exceeds 2 000 million cubic metres/year and where the

    amount of
water transferred exceeds 5 % of this flow.

 

In both cases transfers of piped drinking water are
excluded.

 

13. Waste water treatment plants with a capacity
exceeding 150 000

    population
equivalent as defined in Article 2 point (6) of Directive

    91/271/EEC
(5).

 

14. Extraction of petroleum and natural gas for
commercial purposes