Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1996:399
Date: 1996-10-24
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Environment;Approximation of laws;Waste
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits 
(EC Treaty, Arts 169 and 177) 
2. Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Manifestly irrelevant question 
(EC Treaty, Art. 177) 
3. Approximation of Uws — Waste — Regulation No 259/93 — Meaning — Common defini­
tion — Direct applicability to all shipments of waste, including those within Member States 
(Counal Reguhtion No 259/93, Art. 2(a); Council Directive 75/442, Art. 1(a)) 
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SUMMARY — JOINED CASES C-304/94, C-330/94, C-342/94 AND C-224/95 
4. Approximation of Uws — Waste — Directive 75/442 — Meaning — Substances or objects 
capable of economic reutilization — Included 
(Council ReguUtion No 259/93, Art. 2(a); Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 
91/156, and Directive 91/689, Art. 1(3)) 
1. Although the Court may not, under 
Article 177 of the Treaty, decide upon the 
validity, in regard to Community law, of 
a provision of domestic law, as it would 
be possible for it to do under Article 169 
of the EC Treaty, it nevertheless has juris­
diction to supply the national court with 
an interpretation of Community law on 
all such points as may enable that court 
to determine that issue of compatibility 
for the purposes of the case before it. 
2. Under the procedure provided for in 
Article 177 of the Treaty, it is solely for 
the national courts before which actions 
are brought, and which must bear the 
responsibility for the subsequent judicial 
decision, to determine in the light of the 
special features of each case both the need 
for a preliminary ruling in order to enable 
them to deliver judgment and the rel­
evance of the questions which they sub­
mit to the Court. Dismissal of a request 
from a national court is possible where it 
is clear that the interpretation of Com­
munity law or the consideration of the 
validity of a Community rule, requested 
by that court, has no bearing on the real 
situation or on the subject-matter of the 
case in the main proceedings. 
3. Article 2(a) of Regulation No 259/93 on 
the supervision and control of shipments 
of waste within, into and out of the Euro­
pean Community, provides, in Title I 
('Scope and definitions'), that, for the 
purposes of the regulation, 'waste' means 
the substances or objects defined in 
Article 1(a) of Directive 75/442, as 
amended. That common definition of 
waste, which was introduced in order to 
ensure that the national systems for 
supervision and control of shipments of 
waste conform with minimum criteria, 
applies directly to shipments of waste 
within any Member State. 
4. The concept of 'waste' in Council Direc­
tive 75/442, as amended by Directive 
91/156, referred to in Article 1(3) of 
Council Directive 91/689 on hazardous 
waste and Article 2(a) of Regulation 
N o 259/93 on the supervision and control 
of shipments of waste within, into and 
out of the European Community, is not 
to be understood as excluding substances 
and objects which are capable of econ­
omic reutilization, even if the materials in 
question may be the subject of a transac­
tion or quoted on public or private com­
mercial lists. In particular, a deactivation 
process intended merely to render waste 
harmless, landfill tipping in hollows or 
embankments and waste incineration 
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TOMBESI AND OTHERS 
constitute disposal or recovery operations 
falling within the scope of the abovemen-
tioned Community rules. The fact that a 
substance is classified as a re-usable resi­
due without its characteristics or purpose 
being defined is irrelevant in that regard. 
The same applies to the grinding of a 
waste substance. 
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