Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:659
Date: 2002-11-14
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Customs Union;Charges having an equivalent effect
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
Free movement of goods — Customs duties — Charges having equivalent effect — 
Shipments of waste — Mandatory contribution to a solidarity fund for the return of 
waste — Incompatibility with the Treaty 
(Arts 23 EC and 25 EC) 
I - 2001 
SUMMARY — CASE C-389/00 
By subjecting shipments of waste to other 
Member States to a mandatory contribu­
tion to the solidarity fund for the return of 
waste, a Member State fails to fulfil its 
obligations under Articles 23 EC and 25 
EC. 
Such a contribution cannot be considered 
as payment for a service actually provided 
specifically to the economic operators in 
question, since compliance by that Member 
State with an obligation which Community 
law imposes on all the Member States in 
pursuit of protection of health and the 
environment does not confer on exporters 
of waste established in its territory any 
specific or definite benefit. 
Moreover, the contribution to the solidar­
ity fund cannot be viewed as a lawful 
charge in the form of compensation for a 
measure imposed by Community law with 
a view to promoting the free movement of 
goods, since it has not been established that 
the contribution collected when each ship­
ment of waste is carried out is in any way 
related to the actual costs that operation is 
likely to generate for the State in the event 
that it becomes necessary to return the 
waste shipped and to dispose of or recover 
it. 
(see paras 35, 37-38, 45, 51, 
operative part) 
I - 2002