Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 13 January 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato — Italy) — Regione Puglia v Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare and Others

(Case C-110/20) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Energy - Directive 94/22/EC - Conditions for granting and using authorisations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons - Authorisation for the prospection of hydrocarbons in a specific geographical area for a specified period - Contiguous areas - Grant of several authorisations to the same operator - Directive 2011/92/EU - Article 4(2) and (3) - Environmental impact assessment)

(2022/C 109/07)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: Regione Puglia

Respondents: Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività culturali e del Turismo, Ministero dello Sviluppo economico, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Commissione tecnica di verifica dell’impatto ambientale

Intervener: Global Petroleum Ltd

Operative part of the judgment

Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 1994 on the conditions for granting and using authorisations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons and Article 4(2) and (3) of Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which lays down an upper limit on the size of the area that may be covered by a hydrocarbon exploration permit, but does not expressly prohibit granting the same operator more than one permit for adjacent areas that together cover an area exceeding that limit, provided that doing so is such as to ensure the best possible exercise of the exploration activity concerned from both a technical and economic point of view, and the achievement of the objectives pursued by Directive 94/22. It is also necessary, in the context of the environmental impact assessment, to assess the cumulative effect of projects likely to have significant effects on the environment, which are presented by that operator in its applications for hydrocarbon exploration permits.

(1)  OJ C 247, 27.7.2020.