34It would be incompatible with the binding effect conferred by Article 288 TFEU on a directive to exclude, in principle, the possibility that the obligations which it imposes may be relied on by the persons concerned. The effectiveness of Directive 2000/60 and its aim of protecting the environment, which is recalled in the previous paragraph, require that individuals or, where appropriate, a duly constituted environmental organisation be able to rely on it in legal proceedings and that the national courts be able to take that directive into consideration as an element of EU law in order, inter alia, to review whether a national authority that has granted a permit for a project that may have an effect on the water status has complied with its obligations under Article 4 of the directive, in particular preventing the deterioration of bodies of water, and has thus kept within the limits of the discretion granted to the competent national authorities by that provision (see, by analogy, judgments of 25 July 2008, Janecek, C‑237/07, EU:C:2008:447, paragraph 37, and of 8 November 2016, Lesoochranárske zoskupenie VLK, C‑243/15, EU:C:2016:838, paragraph 44).
Source: EUR-Lex, © European Union, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Decision 2011/833/EU.