European Union – Environment. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 1(5) of Council Directive (EEC) 85/337, as amended by Council Directive (EC) 97/11, should be interpreted as meaning that it covered a project subject to a legislative provision such as that at issue in the main proceedings, under which a project which had been the subject of a decision taken in breach of the obligation to assess its effects on the environment, in respect of which the time limit for an action for annulment had expired, had to be regarded as lawfully authorised. Further, EU law precluded such a legislative provision insofar as it provided that a prior environmental impact assessment had to be deemed to have been carried out for such a project.