Kahlenberg Cable Car Vienna: Administrative Court Confirms Need For Individual Case Assessment To Determine EIA Requirement
In the ongoing EIA assessment procedure for the Kahlenberg cable car, a fundamental decision has been announced: The Administrative Court has ruled that the question of whether the Kahlenberg cable car should be subject to an EIA must be clarified through a case-by-case examination.
The EIA determination procedure was initiated by a declaratory action filed by the (former) Ministry for Climate Protection, as the highest cable car authority, to the Vienna provincial government. This action was submitted to the relevant municipal department (MA 22) in June 2023. In May 2024, the Vienna provincial government subsequently determined that an EIA requirement would not apply to the project.
However, this decision was overturned by the Federal Administrative Court in October 2024, and the matter was referred back to the EIA authority for a new decision. With the ruling of the Administrative Court (VwGH) delivered today, the appeal filed against the Federal Administrative Court's decision was dismissed. This definitively establishes that a case-by-case review by the EIA authority must be conducted to determine whether an EIA requirement for the Kahlenberg cable car is required.
Project operator Hannes Dejaco, Managing Director of Genial Tourismus- und Projektentwicklung GmbH, expressed his initial satisfaction with the Supreme Court's decision: "With today's decision, the path to implementing the project has cleared. We now have the necessary legal certainty regarding the next steps.
The case-by-case review to be conducted by MA 22 will place the question of the project's EIA requirement on a legally sound basis; therefore, the clarifications received today from the Administrative Court are to be welcomed."
The original prevailing legal assessment was that the Kahlenberg cable car was not subject to an EIA due to its limited space requirements and the applicable EIA requirements under the EIA Act. However, the project operator considered it important to address the remaining uncertainties regarding the authorities' jurisdiction through a legally sound EIA assessment procedure.
"We have always said that we are happy with any decision as long as it is legally sound and thus creates the necessary legal certainty," Dejaco said. "If we now have to conduct a case-by-case review, we will fulfill our role as project applicant and provide the EIA authority with the information and data it needs to make an informed decision on the question of whether the project requires an EIA."
"For us, it is clear that the Kahlenberg cable car is a sustainable and environmentally friendly showcase project in the public interest. We have always taken all environmental concerns very seriously and comprehensively considered them during the project development process, which was ultimately confirmed by the granting of the concession. Should the individual case review now being conducted reveal the requirement for an environmental impact assessment, we are convinced that the Kahlenberg cable car will also pass an environmental impact assessment," Dejaco concluded.
