Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2012:480
Date: 2012-07-19
Language of the case: Dutch
Subject matter: Environment;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 31 January 2013 1. Preliminary rulings — Reference to the Court — Question raised by the national court of its own motion — Lawfulness (Art. 267 TFEU) 2. Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the national court — Assessment of the need for and the relevance of the questions submitted (Art. 267 TFEU) 3. Environment — Promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewable fuels — Approximation of laws — Directive 98/70 — National rules imposing compulsory minimum percentages of biofuels on petroleum companies placing petrol and/or diesel fuels on the market — Lawfulness — Combined interpretation of Directives 98/70, 2003/30 and 2009/28 (European Parliament and Council Directive 98/70, as amended by Directives 2009/30, Arts 3 to 5, and 2009/28) 4. Approximation of laws — Information procedure in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services — Directive 98/34 — Member States’ obligation to notify the Commission of any draft technical regulation — Breach of that obligation — Effects — Substantial procedural defect such as to render the technical regulations in question inapplicable (European Parliament and Council Directive 98/34, as amended by Directive 98/48, Art. 8(1)) 5. Approximation of laws — Information procedure in the field of technical rules and regulations — Member States’ obligation to notify the Commission of any draft technical regulation — Purpose and scope — National rules imposing compulsory minimum percentages of biofuels on petroleum companies placing petrol and/or diesel fuels on the market — Amendment of those rules in accordance with a Commission request with a view to removing an obstacle to trade — No obligation to notify the Commission of the draft rules (European Parliament and Council Directive 98/34, as amended by Directive 98/48, Arts 8 and 10(1)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 23) 2. See the text of the decision. (see paras 24-26) 3. Articles 3 to 5 of Directive 98/70 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amending Council Directive 93/12, as amended by Directive 2009/30, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which, in accordance with the objective of promoting the use of biofuels in transport, set for each Member State by Directives 2003/30 on the promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewable fuels for transport, 2009/28 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77 and 2003/30, and 2009/30, requires petroleum companies placing petrol and/or diesel fuels on the market also to place on the market, in the same calendar year, a quantity of biofuels by blending them with those products, where this quantity is calculated as a percentage of the total amount of those products which they market annually, and where those percentages comply with the maximum limits set by Directive 98/70. In that regard, the provisions of Directive 98/70, and in particular Article 5, cannot be interpreted independently of those of Directives 2003/30 and 2009/28, which were in force at the material time in the main proceedings and at the lodging of the request for a preliminary ruling. Indeed, the fact that Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 (the latter amending Directive 98/70) were adopted and came into force on the same date, and the fact that they, along with Directive 2003/30, form part of a comprehensive package of measures aimed at promoting the production and use of renewable energies indicate that the EU legislature wanted to ensure the necessary consistency between those directives. Directive 2003/30, which, according to Article 1, aimed at promoting the use of biofuels to replace diesel or petrol for transport purposes in each Member State, did not impose any requirements on the Member States in regard to the method of attaining the national indicative targets referred to in Article 3(1), but left them freedom of choice as to the type of measures to be adopted. It is therefore apparent from recital 19 in the preamble to Directive 2003/30 that the Member States had various means at their disposal for achieving the objectives laid down by that directive, including a tax exemption scheme, financial assistance for the processing industry or the establishment of a compulsory minimum percentage of biofuels for oil companies. The conclusion that Article 5 of Directive 98/70, read in conjunction with the provisions of Directive 2003/30, did not preclude a Member State from requiring petroleum companies to place on its market a compulsory percentage of biofuels for transport purposes with a view to achieving the national indicative targets which it had laid down in accordance with Article 3(1) of Directive 2003/30 applies all the more when Article 5 is read in conjunction with the provisions of Directive 2009/28, which, as can be seen from recital 9 and Article 1 thereof, sets mandatory national targets for the overall share of energy from renewable sources in the consumption of energy in transport. (see paras 37-42, 47, operative part 1) 4. See the text of the decision. (see para. 50) 5. Article 8 of Directive 98/34 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services, as amended by Directive 98/48, read in conjunction with Article 10(1), final indent, of that directive, must be interpreted as not requiring notification of draft national legislation which obliges petroleum companies placing petrol and/or diesel fuels on the market also to place on the market, in the same calendar year, certain percentages of biofuels, where, after having been notified pursuant to the first subparagraph of Article 8(1), the draft was amended to take account of the Commission’s observations on it, and the amended draft was then communicated to the Commission. (see para. 57, operative part 2)