Without prejudice to Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage(1), in the event of any incident or accident significantly affecting the environment, Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that:
the operator informs the competent authority immediately;
the operator immediately takes the measures to limit the environmental consequences and to prevent further possible incidents or accidents;
the competent authority requires the operator to take any appropriate complementary measures that the competent authority considers necessary to limit the environmental consequences and to prevent further possible incidents or accidents.