Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2014:245
Date: 2014-04-09
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Second Chamber
Subject matter: Environment;Approximation of laws;Waste
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 9 April 2014 1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Identification of the relevant elements of EU law (Art. 267 TFEU) 2. Environment — Waste — Landfill of waste — Directives 75/442 and 1999/31 — National legislation permitting the renewal of operating permits for landfill sites outside the sites provided for in the waste management plan adopted in accordance with Directive 75/442 before its entry into force — Admissibility in the light of the provisions of Directive 1999/31 — Conditions (Council Directives 75/442, as amended by Decision 96/350, Art. 7(1) and 1999/31, as amended by Directive 2011/97, Arts 8 and 14) 3. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442 — Waste management plan — Concept — National legislation making it possible to renew operating permits for landfill sites authorised before the entry into force of the waste management plan and outside the sites provided for in that plan — Not included (Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 96/350, Art. 7(1)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 30) 2. Article 8 of Directive 1999/31 on the landfill of waste, as amended by Directive 2011/97, does not preclude such a national legislative provision which provides that, in derogation from the rule that no landfills may be authorised except on the sites provided for in the waste management plan required by Article 7(1) of Directive 75/442 on waste, landfills authorised before that waste management plan entered into force may, after such entry into force, be granted new permits in respect of the plots covered by the authorisation and which may be based on Article 14 of Directive 1999/31 and apply to landfills which have been granted a permit or which are already in operation at the date of the transposition thereof, provided that the other conditions set out in Article 14 are met, which it is for the referring court to ascertain. It is clear from Article 8(a) and (b) of Directive 1999/31 that a landfill permit can be issued only if the landfill project is in line with the relevant waste management plan referred to in Article 7(1) of Directive 75/442. However, Article 14 of Directive 1999/31 makes ‘landfills which have been granted a permit, or which are already in operation at the time of [its] transposition …’, which must be effected by 16 July 2001 at the latest, subject to a transitional derogating system. It follows from that transitional system that, in order to be able to continue to operate, those landfills must, within eight years after 16 July 2001, be brought into line with the new environmental requirements set out in Article 8 of Directive 1999/31, with the exception of those listed in Annex I, point 1, thereto. That exception concerns precisely the requirements as to the siting of the landfill. Accordingly, Article 14 of Directive 1999/31 allows landfills which have been granted a permit, or which are already in operation at the time of transposition of that directive by the Member State to continue to operate and obtain new permits, even if they do not appear in the list of sites provided for in that waste management plan adopted pursuant to Article 7(1) of Directive 75/442 provided that the other conditions set out in Article 14 are met. (see paras 32-35, 37, operative part) 3. Article 7(1) of Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Decision 96/350, must be interpreted as meaning that a national legislative provision which provides that, in derogation from the rule that no landfills may be authorised except on the sites provided for in the waste management plan required by that article, landfills authorised before that waste management plan entered into force may, after such entry into force, be granted new permits in respect of the plots covered by the authorisation, does not constitute a waste management plan within the meaning of that provision of Directive 75/442. Such a national legislative provision, insofar as its scope consists solely of providing that, by derogation from the common law, it is possible to renew permits for operating landfills already authorised at the date of entry into force of the waste management plan in the Member State concerned for the same plots of land, even if that land is not included in the plan, cannot, of itself, be regarded as an organised and coherent system for achieving the objectives inherent in a ‘waste management plan’, within the meaning of Article 7(1) of Directive 75/442. (see paras 29, 37, operative part)