Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2018:188
Date: 2018-03-15
Language of the case: Romanian
Court formation: Ninth Chamber
Subject matter: Environment;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Romania

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber), 15 March 2018 1. Environment — Waste — Packaging and packaging waste — Directive 94/62 — No exhaustive harmonisation — Assessment of the compatibility of national legislation in the same area on the basis not only of the harmonising measure but also on the basis of primary law (European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62, Art. 15) 2. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — Prohibition of discrimination between imported products and similar domestic products – Contribution levied on packaging waste irrespective of their origin or destination — Lawfulness (Art. 110 TFEU) 3. Environment — Waste — Packaging and packaging waste — Directive 94/62 — Application of the principle that the polluter pays – National legislation imposing a contribution on an economic operator which does not make any alteration to the packaging which it places on the market — Lawfulness — Condition (European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62, Art. 15) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 35) 2. See the text of the decision. (see paras 36-42) 3. Article 15 of European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste and the ‘polluter-pays’ principle which it implements do not preclude national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which imposes a contribution on an economic operator which does not make any alteration to the packaging which it places on the market, calculated on the basis of the difference in weight between, on the one hand, the quantity of packaging waste corresponding to the minimum targets for energy recovery and recovery by recycling and the quantity of packaging waste actually recovered or recycled. (see para. 43, operative part)