Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2004:456
Date: 2004-07-15
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Environment;Waste
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment Environment – Waste – Regulation No 259/93 on shipments of waste – Shipments of waste for recovery – Incorrect classification of a planned shipment by the notifier – Not competent for the authority of dispatch to reclassify that shipment on its own initiative and to refuse to transmit the consignment note – Duty of that authority to inform the notifier of its objections to that classification (Council Regulation No 259/93 Arts 6(8) and 7(2)) Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, as amended by Decisions 98/368 and 1999/816, is to be interpreted as meaning that, where a Member State has recourse, under Article 6(8) of that regulation, to the specific procedure whereby the competent authority of dispatch may transmit the consignment note for a shipment of waste for recovery itself, instead of the notifier, to the competent authority of destination, that competent authority of dispatch, if it considers it necessary to object to the shipment on the ground that it has been incorrectly classified by the notifier, may not reclassify the shipment on its own initiative. It is required to transmit that document to the other competent authorities and to the consignee and to inform the notifier and the other competent authorities concerned of its objection by any appropriate means before the end of the period laid down in Article 7(2) of the regulation at the latest. (see para. 35, operative part)